On Plato's Concept of Reason

Download or read book On Plato's Concept of Reason written by Powers M. Cole and published by Hbsukhwinder286. This book was released on 2023-05-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AnyworkonthePlatonicconceptionofreasonhastowrestlewithafew signaldifficultiesoftheproblem.ThefirstisthatPlatohasnoexplicittheoryof 'reason'assuchinanyofhisworks.Thereis, forexample, nonotionofλόγονἔχονin Plato: astrictlyandpreciselydefinedprincipleofcogitativepowerthatmakesa humanbeingtobewhatitessentiallyis.Initsplace, awideandvariedarrayof Greektermsisrenderedby'reason': νοῦς,λόγος,νόησις, andἐπιστήμηallshowup, atsomepointoranother, as'reason'intranslation.Ofalloftheseitisperhapsνοῦς, sometimesalsotranslated'mind', thatcomesclosesttowhatweordinarily understandbytheterm.Thissimilarity, however, isdeceptive.Theproblemwith νοῦςisthatithasitsownregisterofmeaninginthecontextofAncientGreek philosophymoregenerally, throughtheinfluenceofAnaxagoras, forwhomνοῦς wastheἄπειρονprincipleofbeing1.ΝοῦςinthePhaedo(wherePlatoisexplicitly referringtoAnaxagoras)meanssomethingquitedifferentfromνοῦςinthePhaedrus (whereitisthefacultybywhichhumanbeingsapprehendthetruthintheirjourney aroundtheheavens), andbothoftheseinstancesofusagearequitedifferentfrom themodernideaof'reason'.Broadlyspeaking, however, wecansaythatthesetwo dialoguesuse'νοῦς'accordingtotwodifferent, andopposite, acceptations: 'subjective'and'objective'νο