ABSTRACT

This chapter shows that Plato shared the estimate of sensible particulars of the philosophers of nature. It describes the Republic's figurative treatment of the sensible domain in the famous parable of the Cave, with its associated figures the Sun and the Divided Line. The chapter shows how Plato's program developed out of the work of the Pre-Socratics combined with Socrates' investigations in ethics. Parmenides the Eleatic is the maximally hostile one. It develops the philosophy of nature for explaining the vicissitudes of the derived items accessible to senses by invoking fundamental theoretical entities not subject to generation and corruption. The physical-ingredient interpretation that is the Anaxagorean understanding of participation works well but in a certain range of cases. An Anaxagorean would have to approve of matchstick potatoes as a diet regimen. The chapter describes the characterization of the sensible domain of opinion in the central books of the Republic. It explains Plato's most powerful images but before begins methodological caveat.