Sofist

Plato is undoubtedly one of the most important and influential philosophers in the history of thought. He contributed to the institutionalization of philosophy and the formation of the written tradition in philosophy, and was the initiator of the idealist philosophy tradition that would determine the entire medieval thought with its two-world metaphysics. Plato, who is also important in terms of his influence on Christian medieval philosophy and Islamic thought, addressed all the problems discussed throughout the history of thought hundreds of years ago and built the first major philosophical system.

The Sophist dialogue is closely related to Parmenides, Theaetetus and Statesman dialogues. Unlike most dialogues, this time the speaker in Socrates' place is a foreigner from Elea. Through this stranger, Plato criticizes Parmenides' view that "what does not exist cannot be thought or said". The basic idea of the work is to distinguish the negation of existence from non-existence and to define true and false judgment or belief. The fact that Socrates was replaced by a foreigner from Elea is expressed through the substitution of the addition-division method as a new method, instead of the Socratic refutation method specific to youth dialogues. In this dialogue, Plato also defines the sophist from different perspectives as three different people, or rather as one of the types of experts. Two other types of experts are the statesman and the philosopher.

The Sophist, one of Plato's mature dialogues, is one of the fundamental works in terms of its focus on metaphysical and epistemological issues.



Number of Pages: 136

Year of Printing: 2015


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Say Publications

Number of Pages: 136

First Publication Year: 2012

Language: Turkish