Title

Form and Flux in the Theaetetus and Timaeus

Authors

David P. Hunt, Whittier College

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-28-2003

Abstract

The subject of this essay is the "Heraclitean" flux in the Theaetetus and its role in the discussion of the first definition of knowledge, particularly in light of the flux doctrine that Plato propounds in the Timaeus. There are two principal interpretive approaches to the argument in this part of the Theaetetus, and the question whether its theory of flux is, to any appreciable degree, Plato's own view is perhaps the central issue dividing the two camps. Though the Timaeus has been cursorily cited by the one camp, and as cursorily dismissed by the other, I believe that a closer comparison of the two dialogues can be genuinely helpful in adjudicating the dispute over how best to read the Theaetetus.

Notes

David P. Hunt presented “Form and Flux in the Theaetetus and Timaeus” to the Society at its meeting with the Pacific Division in San Francisco in 2003. An alternate version appears as a book chapter in William A. Welton, ed. 2002. Plato’s Forms: Varieties of Interpretation. Lexington. 151-168.

For information about the author see: https://www.whittier.edu/academics/philosophy/david-hunt

Recommended Citation

Hunt, David P., "Form and Flux in the Theaetetus and Timaeus" (2003). The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter. 359.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp/359