Abstract
I argue that Plato thinks that a sunaition is a mere tool used by a soul (or by the cosmic nous) to promote an intended outcome. In the first section, I develop the connection between sunaitia and Plato’s teleology. In the second section, I argue that sunaitia belong to Plato’s theory of the soul as a self-mover: specifically, they are those things that are set in motion by the soul in the service of some goal. I also argue against several popular and long-standing interpretations, namely, that sunaitia correspond to Aristotle’s idea of hypothetical necessity, that sunaitia are the ‘how’ in an explanation (whereas the true cause is the ‘why’), and that Plato’s causal views should be read through Aristotle’s fourfold schema. I conclude the article by surveying the history of sunaitia after Plato’s usage.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Measuring the End: Heraclitus and Diogenes of Babylon on the Great Year and Ekpyrosis
- Nature as an Instrumental Cause in Proclus
- Alexander of Aphrodisias’ Theory of Action and the Capacity of Doing Otherwise
- Being and the Philosopher’s Object in Plato’s Sophist
- Plato on Sunaitia
- The Sophists’ Detractors and Plato’s Representation of Socrates
- From Dunamis as Active/Passive Capacity to Dunamis as Nature in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Theta
- Aristotle on Compulsive Affections and the Natural Capacity to Withstand
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Measuring the End: Heraclitus and Diogenes of Babylon on the Great Year and Ekpyrosis
- Nature as an Instrumental Cause in Proclus
- Alexander of Aphrodisias’ Theory of Action and the Capacity of Doing Otherwise
- Being and the Philosopher’s Object in Plato’s Sophist
- Plato on Sunaitia
- The Sophists’ Detractors and Plato’s Representation of Socrates
- From Dunamis as Active/Passive Capacity to Dunamis as Nature in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Theta
- Aristotle on Compulsive Affections and the Natural Capacity to Withstand