Dialogue On The Sophist, Session 3: The Forms In A Harmony Of Difference

Our dialogue on the Sophist concluded on April 3, 2022 when participants from the Toronto Philosophy and Calgary Philosophy Meetup groups considered the changing use of language in the communication of a shared reality, both in relation to Plato’s theory of forms and the assertion of Parmenides that “that which is not”, on its own, is both unthinkable and unspeakable. In the conclusion of The Sophist, the Visitor from Elea asserts that “is not” simply means something “different” from “that which is” and therefore in reality there can be many differences but ultimately only one form of existence without negation. The Visitor asks how the sophist – who makes money by dispensing what he claims to be knowledge – can justify the separation of each thing that exists, together with its negation, without the necessity of combining all of Being in a logic ...