One of a group of arguments presented by Plato (c.427-c.347 BC) in his dialogue Parmenides (p.131e-3a) in apparent criticism of Plato’s theory of forms.
Briefly, the argument might be put as follows. If a man is made to be what he is by participating in a Platonic Form (though Greek did not distinguish small and capital letters), then another Form will be needed to explain how both the man and the Form can be called ‘man’.
This Form will be a ‘third man’, and yet another Form (a ‘fourth man’) will be needed to explain how these three items can all be called ‘man’, and so on to an infinite regress.
As Plato presents it, the argument requires Forms themselves to have the properties they are Forms of (see paradigmatism), but the argument can be restated to avoid this, and in fact raises fundamental questions about objects and their properties, and predication.
The theory has been copiously discussed in the 20th century, and by Aristotle (384-322 BC) – to whom we owe the name, and also the example ‘man’; Plato’s own example being ‘large’ – for whom it played a major part in determining his reactions to Plato’s metaphysics.
Source:
J A Passmore, Philosophical Reasoning (1961), ch. 2; modern treatment of Plato’s problem
Table of Contents
- 1 Videos
- 2 Related Products
- 2.1 The Last Days of Anne Boleyn
- 2.2 Wordsworth: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3
- 2.3 The Fugitive: Season 3, Vol. 1
- 2.4 UFOTV Presents: The Mystery of the Sphinx - New Scientific Evidence - Expanded Directors Cut
- 2.5 Arguing with Socialists
- 2.6 Rules for Retrogrades: Forty Tactics to Defeat the Radical Left
- 2.7 Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror
- 2.8 Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
- 2.9 Bach: Messe en Si Mineur, BWV 232 / Savall
- 2.10 Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message
- Plato’s theory of forms (or ideas)
- private language argument
- paradigmatism
- haecceitism
- one over many principle
Videos
The Last Days of Anne Boleyn
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- Rob Coldstream (Director)
- English (Playback Language)
- English (Subtitle)
Wordsworth: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3
- Audio CD – Audiobook
- English (Publication Language)
- 01/09/2007 (Publication Date) - Lyrita (Publisher)
The Fugitive: Season 3, Vol. 1
- DVD
- television series
- first aired in 1965
- black and white
- drama
- David Janssen, Barry Morse, William Conrad (Actors)
UFOTV Presents: The Mystery of the Sphinx - New Scientific Evidence - Expanded Directors Cut
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- JohnAnthonyWest.Dr.RobertM.Schoch (Actor)
- Bill Cote (Director)
- English (Playback Language)
- English (Subtitle)
Rules for Retrogrades: Forty Tactics to Defeat the Radical Left
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Gordon, Timothy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 151 Pages - 03/20/2020 (Publication Date) - TAN Books (Publisher)
Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror
- Hardcover Book
- Sebestyen, Victor (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 592 Pages - 11/07/2017 (Publication Date) - Pantheon (Publisher)
Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
- Timothy P. Mahoney (Self), Randall Price (Self), William Dever (Self) (Actors)
- Timothy P. Mahoney (Director)
Bach: Messe en Si Mineur, BWV 232 / Savall
- Messa BWV 232 in si (1747)
- (DVD registrazione a Fontfroide Festival in 2011)
- Messa BWV 232 in si (1747)Messa BWV 232 in si (1747)(DVD registrazione a Fontfroide Festival in 2011)
- Audio CD – Audiobook
- Latin (Publication Language)
- AUVID (Publisher)
Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Zacharias, Ravi (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 208 Pages - 02/06/2002 (Publication Date) - Thomas Nelson (Publisher)
Last update 2020-06-17. Price and product availability may change.