Inquiry, Forms, and Substances

This text offers a sympathetic explanation of the origin of the theory of forms that is true both to the dialogues and to Plato's place in history. The author's explanation makes the development of Plato's thought part of an intellectual and philosophical history that begins in the pre-Socratic period, extends through Socrates and the Sophists and continues into the 20th century. The explanation provides a unified reading of three passages that scholars have long recognized as keys to Plato's thought about the forms, but which have proved stubbornly resistant to interpretation, both individually and as a group: the intellectual autobiography in the Phaedo; the discussion of the philosopher and the lover of spectacles in the Republic; and the discussion of starting points, the Receptacle and the four kinds of stuff in the Timaeus. This book should be of interest to scholars of ancient philosophy and to philosophers in general, graduate and advanced undergraduate students.