a.b.cook - the metaphysical basis of plato's ethics, 1895

8/14/2019 A.B.cook - The Metaphysical Basis of Plato's Ethics, 1895

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VICTORIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARYTORONTO, ONTARIO


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THE METAPHYSICAL BASISPLATO S ETHICS


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THE

METAPHYSICAL BASISOF

PLATO S ETHICSBY

ARTHUR BERNARD COOK M.A.FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE

"Quis ille primus, cuius ex imagineNatura solers finxit humanum genus,Aeternus, incorruptus, aequaevus polo,Unusque et universus, exemplar Dei?" MILTON

DEIGHTON BELL & CO.LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS

1895

V


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B392

CAMBRIDGEPRINTED BY JONATHAN PALMER

ALEXANDRA STREET


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CONTENTSPAGE

PREFACE . ixPART I. THE PLATONIC THEORY OF MIND i

i. The Parmenides I2. The Sophist . . ... . . . . 173. Aristotle s Psychology . . . . . .23

PART II. HIGHER AND LOWER MENTALITY . . 54i. Purpose and Necessity 552. Identity and Difference 683. Theology 85

PART III. METAPHYSICAL DESCENT AND MORAL ASCENT. 113INDEX LOCORUM 153


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PREFACE.

a growing appreciation of the artistic side of histhought, partly to special efforts that have been madeto determine from theoretical content or linguisticstyle the true order of the Platonic writings. Theformer movement postulates that here, if anywhere, aspeculative system must mean a harmonious whole ;the latter has shown that sundry seeming inconsistencies are but tide-marks of a progressive development. But, whatever be the precise causes whichhave of recent times tended to discredit the patchwork Platonism of the past, it will fairly be demandedof any fresh endeavour to articulate the Idealistdoctrine that it represent that doctrine as an organicunity.

This being admitted, the only safe course is toregard the Platonic philosophy from the standpoint ofsome opo? 6pto-#ei? /^eyas for which Plato is himselfresponsible. Now of all such opoi that which is mostconstantly affirmed and most jealously guarded isthe reality of the Ideal world. The late Dr. Maguirehas somewhere said that "the objectivity of the Ideais the corner-stone of Platonism." I should prefer tosubstitute the term "reality" as a translation of ovala.because the cardinal dogma of the Timaeus assertsthat the nature of ovaia is to be at once ravrov and


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PREFACE. xi

Odrepov, i.e. not only objective but also subjective.And here it may conduce to clearness if, by way ofpreamble, I sketch the main drift of my essay, indicating in the briefest possible manner how thistheory of objective and subjective ova ia furnished asatisfactory foundation for the superstructure ofmorality.

Plato conceived the universe to be a VOTYTOV ,wovcontaining within itself a series of voyra wa. Everysuch oW, whether supreme or subordinate, if it isto make good its claim to real being must (he says)pass from the objective phase of self-identity into thesubjective phase of self-differentiation. The formerstate consists in the intuitional exercise of purethought ; the latter comprises the emotive presentations of knowledge, opinion, sensation. But thepassage from the one to the other is a necessaryfeature of each and every VOIJTGV %wov. As regardsnomenclature, the supreme %wov in its higher condition is the sovereign Mind ; in its lower conditionit is the 6eol Oewv. The subordinate coa in theirhigher condition are the Ideas ; in their lower condition they are particular specimens of the naturalkinds. And since the higher mentality must bedeemed superhuman, Plato calls the sovereign Mind


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xii PREFACE.

0eo? and the Ideas ai&ioi Oeoi, in contradistinction toparticulars which are at best only $ai/j,oves.

The significance of these remarks will be at onceapparent if we consider the case of a single vorpovf

a.b.cook - the metaphysical basis of plato's ethics, 1895

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