Abstract

An interpretation of the Platonic corpus which takes as its guiding theme the paradoxes and ironies built into the Socratic notion of self-knowledge. Ballard develops the theme of the knowledge which is aware of its own limitations by distinguishing between the kinds of unity involved in a self trying to know itself and the unity of the Platonic forms, with a consequent distinction between two kinds of participation. He finds the participation of forms in each other as spelled out in the Sophist to be entirely satisfactory, but material participation, or the relation between sensibles, including the human self, is, in principle, not entirely intelligible. The intrinsic unintelligibility of material participation receives its explanation in the form of myth, particularly the myth of the Timaeus. According to Ballard, the interplay between precise doctrine and myth constitutes the context in which the Socratic quest must be understood. The author offers a suggestive interpretation of the Parmenides as a dialogue which marks out the limits of rational discourse and makes explicit the conception of a functional whole with an ideal unity. It is this kind of unity which is attributable to the self, the arts, the state, and the forms, with significant distinctions in each case. In the course of his analysis, Ballard rejects the view of immortality presented in the Phaedo as part of Plato's final philosophy. Similarly, the notion of the self-predication of the forms is denied. The book should be welcomed by students of Plato as much for its illuminating insights into a central Platonic theme as for its bolder speculations into a comprehensive view of Plato's total philosophic enterprise.—L. W.