Plato’s Parmenides Reconsidered

By: Mehmet Tabak

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Synopsis: Parmenides is very commonly read as a turning point in Plato's philosophical development. Most scholars would assert that, in Parmenides, Plato seriously criticizes his theory of forms. According to some proponents of this stance, Plato later came to view his own criticisms of his theory of forms altogether too damaging, and thus subsequently abandoned the critical stance he took in Parmenides. Other proponents of the serious-self-criticism interpretation of Parmenides argue that, instead of abandoning his theory of forms, Plato lays the foundations of a new and improved theory of forms in Parmenides. (There is little agreement on what this new theory entails. ) Against these prevailing scholarly readings, Mehmet Tabak argues that Parmenides is exclusively a satirical dialogue in which Plato attempts to expose the absurd nature of the doctrines and method of his philosophical opponents. Tabak's accessible, historically-sensitive, detailed, and comprehensive account is the first decisive illustration of this view, which has been sporadically defended for many centuries.