Proclus • commentary on "Parmenides"
- Forms & Methexis -
ত "Parmenides" is a dialogue of Plato that consists of a critical examination of the theory of forms, a set of metaphysical and epistemological doctrines articulated and defended by the character Socrates.
Plato's
Dialogue inspired the metaphysical and mystical theories of the later
Neoplatonists, notably Plotinus and later, Proclus, who saw in the
Deductions the key to the hierarchical ontological structure of the
universe.
Proclus' commentary on the "Parmenides" comprises the transition passage to the second part of the dialogue, in which Parmenides reasserts the necessity of postulating the existence of Forms.
ত He attempted to clarify the nature of the Forms and their relationship to the sensible world, with his exegesis of Socrates’ suggestion in Plato's dialogue "Parmenides".
At the beginning of his comment on Plato’s Parmenides 132d (906. 10ff.), Proclus
notes that Socrates, is of the firm opinion that he has worked out the order (τὴν τάξιν) and the manner of participation (τὸν τρόπον τῆς μεθέξεως) in the Forms, saying that the Forms “stand fixed in the nature as paradigms” (“are firmly established in nature as patterns”), while the other things here resemble the Forms and are likenesses of them (ὁμοιώματα).
notes that Socrates, is of the firm opinion that he has worked out the order (τὴν τάξιν) and the manner of participation (τὸν τρόπον τῆς μεθέξεως) in the Forms, saying that the Forms “stand fixed in the nature as paradigms” (“are firmly established in nature as patterns”), while the other things here resemble the Forms and are likenesses of them (ὁμοιώματα).
ত He advocates a restrictive interpretation of the theory of Forms, denying that there are Forms corresponding to all types of attributes.
ত He also argues that the Forms are not merely abstract concepts, but are rather concrete realities that exist in a realm beyond the sensible world, and since they are present in an intelligible manner (noêtôs) in the Paradigm, they are comprehended in an intellective way.
~ A paradigm is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitutes reality. In Proclus' philosophy, the Paradigm refers to the Forms that are present in an intelligible manner (noêtôs) in the soul. Proclus argues that the Forms are innate reason-principles or eidê that constitute the contents of the soul. ~
In passage 905. 28-906. 2 and at the end of his comment on Plato’s Parmenides
132b-c, Proclus concludes that the midwifery of Parmenides has led the argument from
the lowest entities to the most primal, demonstrating that we must not think of
participation in the Forms as a corporeal process, nor yet a physical one, nor even as a
psychic one, but one proper to intellectual and intelligible Forms.
132b-c, Proclus concludes that the midwifery of Parmenides has led the argument from
the lowest entities to the most primal, demonstrating that we must not think of
participation in the Forms as a corporeal process, nor yet a physical one, nor even as a
psychic one, but one proper to intellectual and intelligible Forms.
Although these two questions, namely the order of the Forms and the manner of participation in them, are referred to as distinct by Proclus, they are substantially interdependent.
From Proclus’ analysis we can infer that the order of the Forms determines the way in which generable and destructible things participate in them.
Furthermore, the order of the Forms determines the way in which we must understand one of their most important ontological characteristics, in relation to the inferior ontological level of the sense-perceptible and changeable things, i.e. their quality of being paradigms.
According to Proclus, by making the distinction between two infinitives, “standing fixed” (ἑστάναι) and “coming to be” (γίγνεσθαι), Socrates reproduces in this passage of Parmenides the distinction between that which is always identical and in the same state, and that which is never in the same state, but only in process of generation; which is tantamount to a central distinction, the distinction between being and becoming.
As Proclus remarks (906. 22-27), by declaring that the manner of participation is assimilation (ὁμοίωσις), Socrates introduces two serious ontological implications.
In the first place, the pattern (παράδειγμα) is not present to the image (εἰκών), so no one is forced to say that the things of this realm share in the Forms either as wholes or as parts; in this way he inactivates the first ἀπορία.
In the second place, the pattern is not coordinate with the image; correspondingly, the Forms are not coordinate with the things of this realm (τὰ τῇδε). So, no one is forced to assume a third common factor between the Forms and the generable things.
ততত
Proclus distinguished between the following faculties of soul: sense perception, imagination (phantasia), opinion, discursive thought, and intellection.
The aim of epistemological ascent is to free oneself eventually from the lower psychic faculties, including the lower rational ones, in order to enjoy a state of pure contemplation and acknowledge/experience the innate reason-principles that constitute the contents of the soul.
Available readings on Bookshelf :
Proclus on Timeus
Elements of Theology
Intellectual Meditations
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