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L’être et le temps dans le Parménide et dans le Timée de Platon
In: The International Journal of the Platonic TraditionAbstract
Two of Plato’s dialogues, the Parmenides and the Timaeus, deal explicitly with the relationship between being and time. The former builds on the assumption that whatever is must be temporal, while the latter makes being and time mutually exclusive. This paper begins by examining how the argument develops in the Parmenides, specifically in the corresponding sections 140e1-142a1 and 151e3-155e3 of the first and the second deductions of the dialectical exercise, as well as in the corollary to the second deduction at 155e4-157b5. It then compares this argument with the account of time given in Timaeus 37e6-39e2, which alludes to the account given in the Parmenides. In stressing the incompatibility of these two accounts, it highlights a remarkable feature they both share. Parmenides’ argument starts from the assumption that whatever is in time must be present, past or future, whether a process or a state resulting from a process. As he advances further in the game of Zenonian antilogies, however, he reduces the dimension of the present to a mere ‘now’, conceived of as a ‘stop’ in the process of becoming. In the corollary, he eventually removes the present from time the ‘instant’ in which a change between two mutually exclusive processes or states occurs. Timaeus, for his part, immediately rules out that the present is a temporal dimension, by restricting temporality to the past and the future. Thus, in both accounts, the present vanishes from time and temporal processes are made dependent on extratemporal conditions. However, Parmenides’ argument points to an extratemporal principle of indeterminacy allowing for change, while, for Timaeus, there are two extratemporal conditions for temporal processes, namely the being of the intelligible Forms, on the one hand, and a pre-cosmic, disorderly becoming in space, on the other.
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Beierwaltes, W. 1966/67. Ἐξαίφνης oder: Die Paradoxie des Augenblicks. Philosophisches Jahrbuch 74, 271-283.
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Brisson, L., Décaire, V. 1987. Le nombre des hypothèses du Parménide. La troisième fois (155e4) de quelle ‹ deuxième fois ›. Rheinisches Museum N. F. 130, 248-253.
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Luchetti, C. 2012. Τὸ τρίττον. Uno sguardo d’insieme alle theoria platonica dell’Istatne a partire dal Parmenide (155e4-157b5), 91-139. In S. Lavecchia (ed.), Istante. L’esperienza dell’Illocalisabile nella filosofia di Platone. Milano, Udine: Mimesis Edizioni.
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Mesch, W. 2003. Die reflektierte Gegenwart. Eine Studie über Zeit und Ewigkeit bei Platon, Aristoteles, Plotin und Augustinus. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann.
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Whittaker, J. 1968. The ‘Eternity’ of the Platonic Forms. Phronesis 13, 131-144 = Whittaker (1984) I.
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Whittaker, J. 1969. Timaeus 24 D 5ff., Phoenix 23, 181-185 = Whittaker (1984) II.
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Whittaker, J. 1984. Studies in Platonism and Patristic Thought. London: Variorum Reprints.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 131 | 131 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 13 | 13 | 1 |
L’être et le temps dans le Parménide et dans le Timée de Platon
In: The International Journal of the Platonic TraditionAbstract
Two of Plato’s dialogues, the Parmenides and the Timaeus, deal explicitly with the relationship between being and time. The former builds on the assumption that whatever is must be temporal, while the latter makes being and time mutually exclusive. This paper begins by examining how the argument develops in the Parmenides, specifically in the corresponding sections 140e1-142a1 and 151e3-155e3 of the first and the second deductions of the dialectical exercise, as well as in the corollary to the second deduction at 155e4-157b5. It then compares this argument with the account of time given in Timaeus 37e6-39e2, which alludes to the account given in the Parmenides. In stressing the incompatibility of these two accounts, it highlights a remarkable feature they both share. Parmenides’ argument starts from the assumption that whatever is in time must be present, past or future, whether a process or a state resulting from a process. As he advances further in the game of Zenonian antilogies, however, he reduces the dimension of the present to a mere ‘now’, conceived of as a ‘stop’ in the process of becoming. In the corollary, he eventually removes the present from time the ‘instant’ in which a change between two mutually exclusive processes or states occurs. Timaeus, for his part, immediately rules out that the present is a temporal dimension, by restricting temporality to the past and the future. Thus, in both accounts, the present vanishes from time and temporal processes are made dependent on extratemporal conditions. However, Parmenides’ argument points to an extratemporal principle of indeterminacy allowing for change, while, for Timaeus, there are two extratemporal conditions for temporal processes, namely the being of the intelligible Forms, on the one hand, and a pre-cosmic, disorderly becoming in space, on the other.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 131 | 131 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 13 | 13 | 1 |