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Hermathena
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's
Sophist
by Olga Alieva
1 Cornford 1935, 177; Vlastos 1991, 23; Nõtomi 1999, 64-5. Duelinger (2005,
17) takes a different stance.
2 Robinson 1953, 12-13. Cf. (Kahn 1996, 99): 'In the Sophist the Socratic
elenchus is described as a noble cathartic art, the first stage of education. [...] Plato
recognizes the negative elenchus as a necessary preliminary, preparing but not
constituting the constructive search for knowledge.' We cannot discuss here Vlatos's
interpretation of the elenchus, according to which this method is not merely cathartic,
but rather is a 'truth-seeking device'. See: Vlastos 1991, 114-15. For criticism of
Vlastos see, e.g: Benson 1995, 45-112 and 2004, 101-13; Penner 2007, 3-19 etc.
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72 Olga Alieva
1. 'God of refutation'
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 73
5 Cf: Soph. 221b: '[N]ot only have you and I now agreed about the name (où
lióvov Touvoļia) of the angling art, but also we have an adequate grasp of the
account of its very function (ìTEpi ai/TÒ Toüpyov).'
6 Plato, Soph. 217b3: 5iopíaao0ai oacpcoç tí ttot' eotiv; 218c7: tí ttot'
EOTIV.
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74 Olga Alieva
Thus they remove the beliefs that impede learning (230d). Two
characteristics of the elenchus should be emphasized here.
Firstly, it reveals 'contrary', i.e. contradictory, beliefs; secondly,
the contradiction must be genuine and concern 'the same
things, and in the same way'. This reservation is paralleled in the
Sophistical Refutations of Aristotle, where the genuine elenchus is
defined as follows:10
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 75
2. Apparent refutation
After the interlocutors have agreed that the sophist appears as
'having a kind of reputed knowledge of everything, but not
having the truth' (233cl0-ll), the Stranger attacks this
definition on behalf of the virtual sophist arguing that it is
impossible to utter or to believe falsehood. The falsehood
paradox13 (236d9-237b2) turns out to be the first refutation in
the dialogue - and, as we will see, an apparent one.
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76 Olga Alieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 77
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78 Olga Alieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 79
The first argument fails because (II. 1. 1) ' [t] he fact that
'white' has but one meaning (arinaivovToç ëv toü Xeukoü)
doesn't prevent [the things that are white] being many (ttoXXcc
tò Xeukcc)' (186a26-7). The distinction implied here is that
between a universal and particulars that instantiate it: 'for to be
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80 Olga Alieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 8 1
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82 Olga Alieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 83
that his divine power manifests itself. The aim of this argument,
as V. Politis puts it, is 'to put an end to this ceaseless and
bloody battle by arguing first, against the materialists, that
changeless things are real also, and then, against the friends of
the forms, that changing things are real also.'33 The Stranger's
attempt to overcome the underlying discrepancy between the
materialists and the friends of the forms brings him, once again,
to an impasse (249dl0: Tr)v à Tropi a v):
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84 Olga Alieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 85
39 Or 'change'.
40 O'Brien 2011,211.
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86 Olga Alieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 87
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88 Olga Alieva
OlgaAlieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 89
Bibliography
Ackrill, J. L., 1997. Essays on Plato and Aristotle, Oxford/New
York: Oxford University Press.
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90 Olga Alieva
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Elenchus and Diairesis in Plato's Sophist 91
Press.
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