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Single Idea 24287

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / d. Forms critiques]

Full Idea

Does a thing share the whole of its form, or a part of it? - What's to prevent the form as whole from being in each of the many? [Parmenides:] So it will be at the same time, as a whole, in things that are many; and thus it would be separate from itself.

Gist of Idea

If a Form exists completely in may things, then it is separated from itself

Source

Plato (Parmenides [c.366 BCE], 131a)

A Reaction

This is one of Parmenides' major objections to the standard theory of Foms. A Form is a single unified thing, existing in many place simultanously, which contradicts common sense. The best reply is Forms are patterns, not objects.

Book Reference

Plato: 'Parmenides', ed/tr. Gill,M.L./Ryan,P. [Hackett 1996], p.131