Plato on the Metaphysical Foundation of Meaning and Truth

Description

What is the nature of truth? Blake E. Hestir offers an investigation into Plato's developing metaphysical views, and examines Plato's conception of being, meaning, and truth in the Sophist, as well as passages from several other later dialogues including the Cratylus, Parmenides, and Theaetetus, where Plato begins to focus more directly on semantics rather than only on metaphysical and epistemological puzzles. Hestir's interpretation challenges both classical and contemporary interpretations of Plato's metaphysics and conception of truth, and highlights new parallels between Plato and Aristotle, as well as clarifying issues surrounding Plato's approach to semantics and thought. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of ancient Greek philosophy, metaphysics, contemporary truth theory, linguistics, and philosophy of language.

Blake E. Hestir is Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Philosophy at Texas Christian University. He has published articles in a number of journals including the Journal of the History of Philosophy, Apeiron, and History of Philosophy Quarterly.

'The study is rich in detailed analyses of arguments but never loses sight of the main point: an account of Plato's restricted ontology as the foundation for his thoughts about meaning and truth. To this end, the author introduces a grounding argument, articulated most explicitly at Parmenides 135b-c.' Jakob Leth Fink, Journal of the History of Philosophy 'Blake E. Hestir's scholarship has consistently encouraged readers of Plato and Aristotle to pay closer attention to the rich, sometimes unexpected details of their conceptions of truth and falsity. This book is an accomplished, welcome extension of Hestir's efforts to date. I especially appreciated the impressive engagement with the Sophist's metaphysics and the patient accounting of Plato's conception of truth. For students of Plato's semantics and metaphysics more generally, Hestir's book offers lots of food for thought. I highly recommend it.' Christine J. Thomas, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews