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Author Helmig, Christoph

Title Forms and Concepts : Concept Formation in the Platonic Tradition
Published Berlin : De Gruyter, 2012

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Description 1 online resource (407 pages)
Series Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca et Byzantina ; v. 5
Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca et Byzantina
Contents A word of thanks; Introduction; 1. 'How comes the mind to be furnished?'; 2. Survey of recent literature; 3. Structure and contents of this study; I. Concepts -- (ancient) problems and solutions; 1. What is a concept?; 2. The relevance of concepts in ancient epistemological debates; 3. Different models of concept acquisition in antiquity; 4. Forms and concepts & problematic concepts; II. Plato on learning as recollection; 1. Forms and concepts; 1.1. The role of concepts in Plato; 1.2. Forms, concepts, language; 2. The Parmenides and the archaeology of conceptualism
2.1. Concepts as 'one over many'2.2. Refuting conceptualism?; 2.3. Conclusion; 3. The Meno on the different stages of recollection; 3.1. The transition from opinion (doxa) to knowledge; 3.2. Conclusion; 4. The Phaedo on the necessity of innate knowledge; 4.1. The deficiency argument (Phaedo 72e-77a); 4.2. The continuity between Meno and Phaedo; 5. The Phaedrus on acquiring universal concepts; 5.1. Recollection and concept attainment (Phaedrus 249b-c); 5.2. Forms, concepts, language again; 5.3. Conclusion; 6. Concept formation and concepts in the Timaeus, Theaetetus, and Sophist
6.1. Recollection in Plato's later works6.2. Innateness and the structure of the human soul; 7. The limits of recollection; 7.1. Some problematic concepts; 7.2. Recollection and error; 8. Forms, concepts, and recollection; III. Aristotle's reaction to Plato; 1. Aristotle and his teacher Plato; 1.1. A strange couple; 1.2. Aristotle's arguments against innate knowledge; 2. The origin and nature of mathematical concepts; 2.1. Concepts and the division of sciences; 2.2. A troublesome emendation; 2.3. Abstraction and the qua-operator; 2.4. Aristotelian and Platonic separation
2.5. Mathematical objects and concepts2.6. Linking abstractionM and induction?; 3. Universal concepts -- induction (epagoge) and its different domains; 3.1. A general definition of induction; 3.2. Induction and its different domains; 3.3. The language of induction; 3.4. Different kinds of induction in Aristotle; 3.4.1. Induction in dialectical and rhetorical practice; 3.4.2. Digression: likeness and the charge of circularity; 3.4.3. Induction in ethics and natural science; 3.4.4. The troublesome case of 'complete' or 'perfect induction'; 3.5. Induction and the starting points of syllogism
4. Induction of first principles (Posterior Analytics II 19)4.1. Introduction; 4.2. What is the object of Analytica Posteriora II 19?; 4.3. Articulation and summary of the argument; 4.4. The relation of sense perception and intellect; IV. Three case studies: Alcinous, Alexander & Porphyry, and Plotinus; 1. Alcinous between empiricism and recollection; 1.1. The doctrine of the doxastic logos; 1.2. Alcinous' psychology; 1.3. Empiricism vs. innate knowledge; 2. Alexander of Aphrodisias & Porphyry on abstraction and universals; 2.1. Alexander -- elaborating Aristotle's notion of abstraction
Summary Forms and Concepts is the first comprehensive study of the central role of concepts and concept acquisition in the Platonic tradition. It sets up a stimulating dialogue between Plato's innatist approach and Aristotle's much more empirical response. The primary aim is to analyze and assess the strategies with which Platonists responded to Aristotle's (and Alexander of Aphrodisias') rival theory. The monograph culminates in a careful reconstruction of the elaborate attempt undertaken by the Neoplatonist Proclus (6th century AD) to devise a systematic Platonic theory of concept acquisition
Analysis Aristoteles
Concept Acquisition
Neo-Platonism
Plato
Notes 2.2. Neoplatonic readings of Alexander
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and indexes
Notes In English
Print version record
Subject Plato v427-v347
Concepts -- History
Form -- History
Platonists.
PHILOSOPHY -- Epistemology.
Concepts
Platonists
Form
Konzeption
Genre/Form Electronic books
History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9783110267242
3110267241