Plato's Account of Falsehood: A Study of the __Sophist__

Some philosophers argue that false speech and false belief are impossible. In the Sophist, Plato addresses this 'falsehood paradox', which purports to prove that one can neither say nor believe falsehoods (because to say or believe a falsehood is to say or believe something that is not, and is therefore not there to be said or believed). In this book Paolo Crivelli closely examines the whole dialogue and shows how Plato's brilliant solution to the paradox is radically different from those put forward by modern philosophers. He surveys and critically discusses the vast range of literature which has developed around the Sophist over the past fifty years, and provides original solutions to several problems that are so far unsolved. His book will be important for all who are interested in the Sophist and in ancient ontology and philosophy of language more generally. PLATO’S ACCOUNT OF FALSEHOOD 2 Copyright 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Abbreviations of titles of Plato’s works 11 Note on the text 12 Introduction 14 0.1 THE MAIN PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY THE SOPHIST AND THEIR SOLUTIONS 14 0.2 METHODOLOGY 24 CHAPTER 1 The sophist defined 26 1.1 CHARACTERS AND TASK OF THE DIALOGUE 26 1.2 THE METHOD OF DIVISION 28 1.3 THE MASTER OF APPEARANCE 36 CHAPTER 2 Puzzles about not-being 41 2.1 WHAT IS NOT IS UNSAYABLE 41 2.2 IMAGES ARE IMPOSSIBLE 61 2.3 FALSEHOOD IS IMPOSSIBLE 64 2.4 FALSE BELIEFS AND FALSE SENTENCES DESCRIBED 73 CHAPTER 3 Puzzles about being 84 3.1 HOW MANY BEINGS ARE THERE? 84 3.2 WHAT ARE BEINGS LIKE? 99 3.3 THE REFUTATION OF THE FINAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BEING 108 CHAPTER 4 The communion of kinds 115 4.1 THE LATE-LEARNERS 116 4.2 THE COMBINATION OF KINDS 122 4.3 IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE ARE DIFFERENT FROM CHANGE AND STABILITY 131 4.4 IDENTITY IS DIFFERENT FROM BEING 149 4.5 DIFFERENCE IS DIFFERENT FROM BEING 153 4.6 APPARENTLY INCONSISTENT SENTENCES 162 4.7 NOT-BEING AND DIFFERENCE 179 CHAPTER 5 Negation and not-being 190 5.1 NEGATIVE PREDICATION 190 5.2 NEGATIVE KINDS 217 5.3 THE BEING OF NOT-BEING 227 CHAPTER 6 Sentences, false sentences, and false belief 234 6.1 SENTENCES 234 6.2 FALSE SENTENCES 246 6.3 FALSE BELIEF 272 APPENDIX The Sophist on true and false sentences 274 References 288 Index of names 303 Index of subjects 307 Index of passages cited 309 "Some philosophers argue that false speech and false belief are impossible. In the Sophist, Plato addresses this 'falsehood paradox', which purports to prove that one can neither say nor believe falsehoods (because to say or believe a falsehood is to say or believe something that is not, and is therefore not there to be said or believed). In this book Paolo Crivelli closely examines the whole dialogue and shows how Plato's brilliant solution to the paradox is radically different from those put forward by modern philosophers. He surveys and critically discusses the vast range of literature which has developed around the Sophist over the past fifty years, and provides original solutions to several problems that are so far unsolved. His book will be important for all who are interested in the Sophist and in ancient ontology and philosophy of language more generally"-- Provided by publisher "Some philosophers argue that false speech and false belief are impossible. In the Sophist, Plato addresses this 'falsehood paradox', which purports to prove that one can neither say nor believe falsehoods (because to say or believe a falsehood is to say or believe something that is not, and is therefore not there to be said or believed). In this book Paolo Crivelli closely examines the whole dialogue and shows how Plato's brilliant solution to the paradox is radically different from those put forward by modern philosophers. He surveys and critically discusses the vast range of literature which has developed around the Sophist over the past fifty years, and provides original solutions to several problems that are so far unsolved. His book will be important for all who are interested in the Sophist and in ancient ontology and philosophy of language more generally"--Résumé de l'éditeur In this book Paolo Crivelli closely examines Plato's Sophist and shows how Plato's brilliant solution to the falsehood paradox is radically different from those put forward by modern philosophers. His book will be important for all who are interested in the Sophist and in ancient ontology and philosophy of language. Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. The sophist defined; 2. Puzzles about not-being; 3. Puzzles about being; 4. The communion of kinds; 5. Negation and not-being; 6. Sentences, false sentences, and false beliefs; Appendix: the Sophist on true and false sentences: formal presentation. Plato's Account of Falsehood discusses recent secondary literature on the falsehood paradox, providing original solutions to several unsolved problems