The Unity of Oneness and Plurality in Plato's Theaetetus

The Unity of Oneness and Plurality in Plato's Theaetetus offers a reading of the Theaetetus that shows how the characters’ failure to give an acceptable account (i.e a logos) of knowledge is really a success; the failure being a necessary result of the dialogue’s implicit proof that there can never be a complete logos of knowledge. The proof of the incompatibility of knowledge and logos rests on the recognition that knowledge is always of what is, and hence is always of what is one, while logos is inherently multiple. Thus, any attempt to give a logos of what is known amounts to turning what is one into something multiple, and hence, that which is expressed by any logos must be other than that which is known. In this way The Unity of Oneness and Plurality in Plato's Theaetetus provides its readers with developed sketches of both a Platonic epistemology, and a Platonic ontology. An account of the incompleteness of all accounts is, obviously, a very slippery undertaking. Plato's mastery of his craft is on full display in the dialogue. Besides offering a reading of Plato's epistemology and ontology, The Unity of Oneness and Plurality in Plato's Theaetetus investigates the insights and difficulties that arise from a close reading of the dialogue through a sustained analysis that mirrors the movement of the dialogue, offering a commentary on each of the primary sections, and showing how these sections fit together to supply an engaged reader with a unified whole.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter One: The One and the Many Chapter Two: The Levels of Being Chapter Three: The Sameness Between the Levels of Being Chapter Four: The Difference Between the Levels of Being Conclusion

About the Author :
Daniel Bloom is assistant professor of philosophy at West Texas A&M University.

Review :
The Unity of Oneness and Plurality in Plato's Theaetetus carefully engages the dialogue’s arguments while also wrestling with the philosophical problems the dialogue explores. The result is both extraordinary scholarship and a profound philosophical reflection on the possibility of knowledge. What sets this study apart from others are Bloom’s appreciation of the reflexivity inherent in an inquiry that seeks to know what knowledge is and his understanding of Plato’s use of irony as a positive tool. Bloom embraces the dialogue’s paradoxes and, in consequence, is able to see in it a unity and coherence that has escaped other readers. This book is an extraordinary achievement. The Unity of Oneness and Plurality in Plato's Theaetetus is distinguished by the depth to which Bloom explores the perennial puzzles that arise in trying to grasp both oneness and multiplicity as well as universality and individuality. Bloom succeeds in showing why knowing and being cannot have unity without diversity nor diversity without unity. Philosophy students and faculty of every philosophical persuasion will find much to savor, as will anyone else who has thought hard about truth. Unassuming and sensitive, Daniel Bloom's commentary is a model for philosophical inquiry in general and engagement with Plato's dialogues in particular.