Abstract
The strange and challenging stretch of dialectic with which Plato’s Sophist begins and ends has confused and frustrated readers for generations, and despite receiving a fair amount of attention, there is no consensus regarding even basic issues concerning this method. Here I offer a new account of bifurcatory division as neither joke nor naïve method, but instead a valuable, propaedeutic method that Plato offers to us readers as a means of embarking upon the kind of mental gymnastics that will stretch us properly in preparation for further, more challenging dialectical work. Considering several interpretive issues, I argue that bifurcatory division is a process of collective inquiry into the common through which an account, both definitional and taxonomical, is discovered. Depending on the level of understanding exhibited by the inquirers, this account may or may not allow for noetic understanding of the object in the deepest sense.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Eric Sanday, Cristina Ionescu, Michael Wiitala, and the anonymous readers for Elenchos for feedback on earlier drafts. I owe numerous points to them throughout.
Appendixes: Divisions
1. The Angler (218e–221c; cf. Smith 2020, 6)
2. The First Sophist (221c3–223b6)
3. The Second, Third, and Fourth Sophists (223b9–224e11)
4. The Fifth Sophist (224e6–226a6)
5. The Sixth Sophist (231b3–8)
6. Web-like, Symmetrical Division of Making (265b–266b1)
7. The Seventh Sophist (264c1–268d5, drawing upon distinctions from 232a1–236d9)
References
Ambuel, D. 2007. Image and Paradigm in Plato’s Sophist. Las Vegas: Parmenides Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Bluck, R. 1975. Plato’s Sophist. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Bostock, D. 1988. Plato’s Theaetetus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Brann, E., P. Kalkavage, and E. Salem, trans. 1996. Plato: Sophist or the Professor of Wisdom. Newburyport: Focus Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Brown, L. 2008. “The Sophist on Statements, Predication, and Falsehood.” In The Oxford Handbook of Plato, edited by G. Fine, 437–62. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195182903.003.0018Search in Google Scholar
Brown, L. 2010. “Definition and Division in the Sophist.” In Definition in Greek Philosophy, edited by D. Charles, 151–71. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199564453.003.0005Search in Google Scholar
Burnet, J., ed. 1907. Platonis Opera, Vol. 5. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Search in Google Scholar
Cherniss, H. 1944. Aristotle’s Criticism of Plato and the Academy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Cohen, S. M. 1973. “Plato’s Method of Division.” In Patterns in Plato’s Thought, edited by J. M. E. Moravcsik, 181–91. Dordrecht: Reidel.10.1007/978-94-010-2545-4_10Search in Google Scholar
Cooper, J., eds. 1997. Plato: Complete Works. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Cornford, F. M. 1935. Plato’s Theory of Knowledge: The Theaetetus and Sophist. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Search in Google Scholar
Crivelli, P. 2012. Plato’s Account of Falsehood: A Study of the Sophist. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139015004Search in Google Scholar
Crombie, I. M. 1962. An Examination of Plato’s Doctrines, Vol. 2. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Search in Google Scholar
Curd, P., and R. McKirahan, eds. and trans. 2011. The Presocratics: A Reader. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
De Rijk, L. M. 1986. Plato’s Sophist: A Philosophical Commentary. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co.Search in Google Scholar
Diels, H., and W. Kranz, eds. 1897. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Berlin: Weidmann.Search in Google Scholar
Dorter, K. 1994. Form and Good in Plato’s Eleatic Dialogues: The Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman. Los Angeles: University of California Press.Search in Google Scholar
Duerlinger, J., trans. 2005. Plato’s Sophist. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Duke, E. A., W. F. Hicken, W. S. M. Nicoll, D. B. Robinson, and J. C. D. Strachan, eds. 1995. Platonis Opera, Vol. 1: Euthyphro, Apologia Socratis, Crito, Phaedo, Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophista, Politicus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Giannopoulou, Z. 2001. “‘The Sophist of Noble Lineage’ Revisited: Plato’s Sophist 226b1–231b8.” Illinois Classical Studies 26: 101–24.Search in Google Scholar
Gill, M. L. 2006. “Models in Plato’s Sophist and Statesman.” Plato Journal: The Journal of the International Plato Society 6. https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_6_2.Search in Google Scholar
Gill, M. L. 2010. “Division and Definition in Plato’s Sophist and Statesman.” In Definition in Greek Philosophy, edited by D. Charles, 172–99. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199564453.003.0006Search in Google Scholar
Gómez-Lobo, A. 1977. “Plato’s Description of Dialectic in the Sophist 253d1–e2.” Phronesis 22 (1): 29–47, https://doi.org/10.1163/156852877x00164.Search in Google Scholar
Gómez-Lobo, A. 1981. “Dialectic in the Sophist: A Reply to Waletzki.” Phronesis 26: 80–3, https://doi.org/10.1163/156852881x00169.Search in Google Scholar
Hochholzer, Ch. 2016. Teile und Teilhabe: Eine Untersuchung über Platons Sophistes. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110453638Search in Google Scholar
Ionescu, C. 2013. “Dialectic in Plato’s Sophist: Division and the Communion of Kinds.” Arethusa 46: 41–64, https://doi.org/10.1353/are.2013.0003.Search in Google Scholar
Kerferd, G. B. 1954. “Plato’s Noble Art of Sophistry.” The Classical Quarterly 4: 84–90, https://doi.org/10.1017/s000983880000793x.Search in Google Scholar
Klein, J. 1977. Plato’s Trilogy: Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar
Kolb, P. 1997. Platons Sophistes. Theorie des Logos und Dialektik. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.Search in Google Scholar
Lafrance, Y. 1979. “Autour de Platon: continentaux et analystes.” Dionysius 3: 17–37.Search in Google Scholar
Lane, M. 1998. Method and Politics in Plato’s Statesman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511518492Search in Google Scholar
Miller, M. 1980. The Philosopher in Plato’s Statesman. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.10.1007/978-94-009-8790-6Search in Google Scholar
Miller, M. 1990. “The God-Given Way.” Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 6: 323–59, https://doi.org/10.1163/2213441790x00197.Search in Google Scholar
Miller, M. 1999a. “Platonic Mimesis.” In Contextualizing Classics: Ideology, Performance, Dialogue, edited by Th. M. Falkner, N. Felson, and D. Konstan, 253–66. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.Search in Google Scholar
Miller, M. 1999b. “Dialectical Education and Unwritten Teachings in Plato’s Statesman.” In Plato and Platonism, edited by J. M. van Ophuijsen, 218–41. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press.Search in Google Scholar
Miller, M. 2010. “A More ‘Exact Grasp’ of the Soul? Tripartition in Republic IV and Dialectic in the Philebus.” In Truth: Studies of a Robust Presence, edited by K. Pritzl, 40–101. Washington: Catholic University of America Press.10.2307/j.ctt285054.5Search in Google Scholar
Miller, M. 2016. “What the Dialectician Discerns: A Reading of Sophist 253d-e.” Ancient Philosophy 36 (2): 1–32, https://doi.org/10.5840/ancientphil201636223.Search in Google Scholar
Miller, M. 2017. “Noesis and Logos in the Eleatic Trilogy, with a Focus on the Visitor’s Jokes at Statesman 266a-d.” In Plato’s Statesman: Dialectic, Myth, and Politics, edited by J. Sallis, 107–36. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Moravcsik, J. M. E. 1973. “Plato’s Method of Division.” In Patterns in Plato’s Thought, edited by J. M. E. Moravcsik, 158–80. Dordrecht: Reidel.10.1007/978-94-010-2545-4_9Search in Google Scholar
Murr, D. E. 2006. “Paradigm and Diairesis: A Response to M. L. Gill’s Models in Plato’s Sophist and Statesman.” Plato Journal: The Journal of the International Plato Society 6, https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_6_3.Search in Google Scholar
Notomi, N. 1999. The Unity of Plato’s Sophist: Between Sophist and Philosopher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781107297968Search in Google Scholar
Oberhammer, A. A. 2016. Buchstaben als paradeigma in Platons Spätdialogen. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110465587Search in Google Scholar
Pellegrin, P. 1986. Aristotle’s Classification of Animals. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520330412Search in Google Scholar
Rosen, S. 1983. Plato’s Sophist: The Drama of Original and Image. New Haven: Yale University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Rutherford, R. B. 1995. The Art of Plato: Ten Essays in Platonic Interpretation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Ryle, G. 1939. “Plato’s Parmenides II.” Mind 48: 302–25, https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/xlviii.191.302.Search in Google Scholar
Ryle, G. 1966. Plato’s Progress. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Sanday, E. 2015. A Study of Dialectic in Plato’s Parmenides. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.10.2307/j.ctv47wdt0Search in Google Scholar
Sanday, E. 2017. “Paradigm and Dialectical Inquiry in Plato’s Statesman.” In Plato’s Statesman: Dialectic, Myth, and Politics, edited by J. Sallis, 149–69. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Sayre, K. 1969. Plato’s Analytical Method. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar
Sayre, K. 2006. Metaphysics and Method in Plato’s Statesman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511584596Search in Google Scholar
Seligman, P. 1974. Being and Not-Being: An Introduction to Plato’s Sophist. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.10.1007/978-94-010-2012-1Search in Google Scholar
Smith, C. C. 2018. “The Groundwork for Dialectic in Statesman 278a-287b.” The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 12 (2): 132–50, https://doi.org/10.1163/18725473-12341412.Search in Google Scholar
Smith, C. C. 2019. “Dialectical Methods and the Stoicheia Paradigm in Plato’s Trilogy and Philebus.” Plato Journal: Journal of the International Plato Society 19: 7–23, https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_19_1.Search in Google Scholar
Smith, C. C. 2020. “Diairesis and Koinōnia in Sophist 253d1-e3.” History of Philosophy Quarterly 37 (4): 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_525-1.Search in Google Scholar
Stenzel, J. 1964. Plato’s Method of Dialectic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Search in Google Scholar
Taylor, A. E. 1926. Plato: The Man and His Work. London: Methuen & Co.Search in Google Scholar
Taylor, C. 2006. “Socrates the Sophist.” In Remembering Socrates: Philosophical Essays, edited by L. Judson, and V. Karasmanis, 157–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Trevaskis, J. R. 1955. “The μέγιστα γένη and the Vowel Analogy of Plato, Sophist 253.” Phronesis 11 (2): 99–116.10.1163/156852866X00021Search in Google Scholar
Vlastos, G. 1973. Platonic Studies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Search in Google Scholar
White, N. P., trans. 1993. Plato: Sophist. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
