Abstract
In this paper I discuss the problem of the meanings of the verb ‘be’ in Plato’s Timaeus. My claim is that, at least in that dialogue, existence emerges as the main and autonomous meaning of the verb ‘be’, contrary to the widespread view first defended in a series of studies by Charles Kahn according to which, in the Greek language and in Plato’s philosophy, the verb ‘be’ basically has a copulative-predicative and, more specifically, a truth-related meaning. I consider and examine some passages from the Timaeus (27d5–28a4, 29b3–c3, 37e3–38b3, 51b7–52a7) where the concept of existence seems to be expressed in a clear and definite way by the use of the verb ‘be.’ I conclude by making some remarks on how we should understand the notion of existence, not least with reference to the problem of truth, within Plato’s philosophy and the Timaeus in particular.
Bibliography
Annas, Julia (1981): An introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Search in Google Scholar
Aubenque, Pierre, ed. (1987): Études sur Parménide, Tome I: Le Poème de Parménide, texte, traduction, essai critique par D. O’Brien, en collaboration avec J. Frère pour la traduction française. Paris: Vrin.Search in Google Scholar
Betegh, Gábor (2010): “What Makes a Myth Eikôs?”. In: Richard D. Mohr and Barbara Sattler (eds.): One Book, the Whole Universe: Plato’s Timaeus Today. Las Vegas: Parmenides Publishing, pp. 213–224.Search in Google Scholar
Broadie, Sarah (2012): Nature and Divinity in Plato’s Timaeus. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.10.1017/CBO9780511997815Search in Google Scholar
Brown, Lesley (1986): “Being in the Sophist. A Syntactical Enquiry”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 4, pp. 49–70.Search in Google Scholar
Brown, Lesley (1994): “The verb ‘To Be’ in Greek Philosophy: Some Remarks”. In: Steven Everson (ed.): Companions to Ancient Thought, III: Language. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 212–236.Search in Google Scholar
Burnyeat, Myles F. (2005): “EIKÔS MYTHOS”, Rhizai 2, pp. 143–165.Search in Google Scholar
Cherniss, Harold F. (1957): “The Relation of the Timaeus to Plato’s Later Dialogues, American Journal of Philology 78, pp. 225–266 (reprinted in: Reginald E. Allen, ed. 1965: Studies in Plato’s Metaphysics. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 339–378; and in: Harold F. Cherniss 1977: Selected Papers, ed. by Leonardo Tarán. Leiden: Brill, pp. 298–339).Search in Google Scholar
Donini, Pierluigi (1988): “Il Timeo: unità del dialogo, verosimiglianza del discorso”, Elenchos 9, pp. 5–52.Search in Google Scholar
Ferrari, Franco and Petrucci, Federico M., eds. (2022): Platone, Timeo. Milan: Mondadori.Search in Google Scholar
Fine, Gail J. (1978): “Knowledge and Belief in Republic V”, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 60, pp. 121–139.10.1515/agph.1978.60.2.121Search in Google Scholar
Fine, Gail J. (1990): “Knowledge and Belief in Republic V–VII”. In: Steven Everson (ed.): Companions to Ancient Thought, I: Epistemology. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 85–115.Search in Google Scholar
Fine, Gail J. (2004): “Knowledge and True Belief in the Meno”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 27, pp. 41–81.10.1093/oso/9780199277124.003.0003Search in Google Scholar
Frede, Michael (1967): Prädikation und Existenzaussage. Platons Gebrauch von ist und ist nicht im Sophistes. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Search in Google Scholar
Frede, Michael (1988): “Being and Becoming in Plato”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy Suppl., pp. 37–52.Search in Google Scholar
Fronterotta, Francesco, ed. (2003): Platone, Timeo. Milan: BUR.Search in Google Scholar
Fronterotta, Francesco (2007): “ΕΙΝΑΙ, ΟΥΣΙΑ e ΟΝ nei libri centrali della Repubblica”. In: Francisco L. Lisi (ed.): The Ascent to the Good. Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag, pp. 115–160.Search in Google Scholar
Fronterotta, Francesco (2010): “ARXH TOY KOSMOY and ARXH TOY LOGOY. A new hypothesis on the beginning of the world in Plato’s Timaeus”. In: Antoni Bosch-Veciana and Josep Monserrat-Molas (eds.): Philosophy and Dialogue. Studies on Plato’s Dialogues. Barcelona: Barcelonesa d’Edicions, pp. 141–155.Search in Google Scholar
Fronterotta, Francesco (2011): “Some Remarks on the Senses of Being in the Sophist”. In: Aleš Havlíček and Filip Karfik (eds.): Plato’s Sophist. Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium Platonicum Pragense. Praha: OIKOYMENH, pp. 35–62.Search in Google Scholar
Fronterotta, Francesco (2022): “‘Vero’ e ‘falso’ fra ontologia e logica in Platone (e Aristotele)”, Discipline filosofiche 32, pp. 39–62.10.2307/j.ctv360nqq2.5Search in Google Scholar
Gill, Christopher (1979): “Plato and Politics: the Critias and the Politicus”, Phronesis 24, pp. 148–167.10.1163/156852879X00090Search in Google Scholar
Gilson, Étienne (1948): L’être et l’essence. Paris: Vrin.Search in Google Scholar
Graeser, Andreas (1982): “Über den Sinn von Sein bei Platon”, Museum Helveticum 39, pp. 29–42.Search in Google Scholar
Johansen, Thomas (2004): Plato’s Natural Philosophy. A Study of the Timaeus-Critias. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.10.1017/CBO9780511518478Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1966): “The Greek verb ‘to be’ and the Concept of Being”, Foundations of Language 2, pp. 245–265.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1969a): “The Thesis of Parmenides”, Review of Metaphysics 22, pp. 700–724.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1969b): “More on Parmenides”, Review of Metaphysics 23, pp. 333–340.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1973): The Verb “Be” in Ancient Greek. Dordrecht, Boston: Reidel.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1976): “Why Existence does not emerge as a Distinct Concept in Greek Philosophy”, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 58, pp. 323–334.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1981): “Some Philosophical Uses of ‘to be’ in Plato”, Phronesis 26, pp. 105–134.10.1163/156852881X00204Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1985): “Retrospect on the Verb ‘to be’ and the Concept of Being”. In: Simo Knuttila and Jaakko Hintikka (eds.): The Logic of Being. Dordrecht, Boston: Reidel, pp. 1–28.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (1988): “Being in Parmenides and Plato”, Parola del Passato 43, pp. 237–261.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (20032): The Verb “Be” in Ancient Greek. Indianapolis: Hackett.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (2004): “A Return to the Theory of the Verb Be and the Concept of Being”, Ancient Philosophy 24, pp. 381–405.10.5840/ancientphil200424246Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, Charles H. (2009): Essays on Being. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.10.1093/oso/9780199534807.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Leigh, Fiona (2007): “The Copula and Semantic Continuity in Plato’s Sophist”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 34, pp. 105–121.10.1093/oso/9780199544875.003.0004Search in Google Scholar
Malcolm, John (2006): “Some Cautionary Remarks on the ‘is’/‘teaches’ Analogy”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 31, pp. 281–296.10.1093/oso/9780199204212.003.0010Search in Google Scholar
Miller, Dana (2003): The Third Kind in Plato’s Timaeus. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.10.13109/9783666252440Search in Google Scholar
Mourelatos, Alexander P. D. (1969): “Comments on ‘The Thesis of Parmenides’”, Review of Metaphysics 22, pp. 735–744.Search in Google Scholar
Mourelatos, Alexander P. D. (2010): “The Epistemological Section (29b-d) of the Proem in Timaeus’ Speech: M. F. Burnyeat on Eikôs Mythos, and Comparison with Xenophanes B34 and B35”. In: Richard D. Mohr and Barbara Sattler (eds.): One Book, the Whole Universe: Plato’s Timaeus Today. Las Vegas: Parmenides Publishing, pp. 225–247.Search in Google Scholar
Osborne, Catherine (1996): “Space, Time, Shape, and Direction: Creative Discourse in the Timaeus”. In: Christopher Gill and Mary M. McCabe (eds.): Form and Argument in Late Plato. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 179–211.10.1093/oso/9780198240129.003.0008Search in Google Scholar
Owen, Gwilym E. L. (1953): “The Place of the Timaeus in Plato’s Dialogues”, Classical Quarterly n.s. 3, pp. 79–95 (reprinted in: Reginald E. Allen, ed. 1965: Studies in Plato’s Metaphysics. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 313–338; and in: Gwilym E. L. Owen 1986: Logic, Science and Dialectic. Collected Papers in Greek Philosophy, ed. by Martha Nussbaum. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, pp. 66–84).Search in Google Scholar
Owen, Gwilym E. L. (1971): “Plato on Not-Being”. In: Gregory Vlastos (ed.): Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology. New York: Doubleday & Anchor, pp. 223–267 (reprinted in Gwilym E. L. Owen 1986: Logic, Science and Dialectic. Collected Papers in Greek Philosophy, ed. by Martha Nussbaum. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, pp. 104–137).Search in Google Scholar
Stein, Howard (1969): “Comments on ‘The Thesis of Parmenides’”, Review of Metaphysics 22, pp. 725–734.Search in Google Scholar
Strobel, Benedikt (2007):“Dieses” und “So etwas”. Zur ontologischen Klassifikation platonischer Formen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Search in Google Scholar
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Preliminary Note
- Articles
- The Verb εἰμί and Its Benefits for Parmenides’ Philosophy
- Protagoras on Being: Between ὀρθοέπεια and the Eleatic Legacy
- Gorgias and Plato’s Sophist
- Language, Definition and Being in Antisthenes
- Complete versus Incomplete εἶναι in the Sophist: An unhelpful dilemma
- Senses of Being in Plato’s Timaeus
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Preliminary Note
- Articles
- The Verb εἰμί and Its Benefits for Parmenides’ Philosophy
- Protagoras on Being: Between ὀρθοέπεια and the Eleatic Legacy
- Gorgias and Plato’s Sophist
- Language, Definition and Being in Antisthenes
- Complete versus Incomplete εἶναι in the Sophist: An unhelpful dilemma
- Senses of Being in Plato’s Timaeus