Euthydemus

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Ancient, History, Ancient History, Greece
Cover of the book Euthydemus by Plato, Perennial Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Plato ISBN: 9781531259464
Publisher: Perennial Press Publication: March 24, 2016
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Plato
ISBN: 9781531259464
Publisher: Perennial Press
Publication: March 24, 2016
Imprint:
Language: English

The Euthydemus, though apt to be regarded by us only as an elaborate jest, has also a very serious purpose. It may fairly claim to be the oldest treatise on logic; for that science originates in the misunderstandings which necessarily accompany the first efforts of speculation. Several of the fallacies which are satirized in it reappear in the Sophistici Elenchi of Aristotle and are retained at the end of our manuals of logic. But if the order of history were followed, they should be placed not at the end but at the beginning of them; for they belong to the age in which the human mind was first making the attempt to distinguish thought from sense, and to separate the universal from the particular or individual. How to put together words or ideas, how to escape ambiguities in the meaning of terms or in the structure of propositions, how to resist the fixed impression of an 'eternal being' or 'perpetual flux,' how to distinguish between words and things—these were problems not easy of solution in the infancy of philosophy. They presented the same kind of difficulty to the half-educated man which spelling or arithmetic do to the mind of a child. It was long before the new world of ideas which had been sought after with such passionate yearning was set in order and made ready for use. To us the fallacies which arise in the pre-Socratic philosophy are trivial and obsolete because we are no longer liable to fall into the errors which are expressed by them. The intellectual world has become better assured to us, and we are less likely to be imposed upon by illusions of words...

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Euthydemus, though apt to be regarded by us only as an elaborate jest, has also a very serious purpose. It may fairly claim to be the oldest treatise on logic; for that science originates in the misunderstandings which necessarily accompany the first efforts of speculation. Several of the fallacies which are satirized in it reappear in the Sophistici Elenchi of Aristotle and are retained at the end of our manuals of logic. But if the order of history were followed, they should be placed not at the end but at the beginning of them; for they belong to the age in which the human mind was first making the attempt to distinguish thought from sense, and to separate the universal from the particular or individual. How to put together words or ideas, how to escape ambiguities in the meaning of terms or in the structure of propositions, how to resist the fixed impression of an 'eternal being' or 'perpetual flux,' how to distinguish between words and things—these were problems not easy of solution in the infancy of philosophy. They presented the same kind of difficulty to the half-educated man which spelling or arithmetic do to the mind of a child. It was long before the new world of ideas which had been sought after with such passionate yearning was set in order and made ready for use. To us the fallacies which arise in the pre-Socratic philosophy are trivial and obsolete because we are no longer liable to fall into the errors which are expressed by them. The intellectual world has become better assured to us, and we are less likely to be imposed upon by illusions of words...

More books from Perennial Press

Cover of the book Free Thought and Official Propaganda by Plato
Cover of the book Masters of Space by Plato
Cover of the book Creative Intelligence by Plato
Cover of the book The Age of the Maccabees by Plato
Cover of the book The Story of Bacon's Rebellion by Plato
Cover of the book The Caesars by Plato
Cover of the book Insidekick by Plato
Cover of the book Adventures and Conquests of Pizarro by Plato
Cover of the book The Age of Bismarck by Plato
Cover of the book The Story of Greece by Plato
Cover of the book William the Silent by Plato
Cover of the book Chronicle of the Kings of England by Plato
Cover of the book Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy by Plato
Cover of the book History of Armenia by Plato
Cover of the book The Great German Composers by Plato
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy