Plato's Thought in the Making: A Study of the Development of His Metaphysics (review)

164 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Plato's Thought in the Making: A Study of the Development o] His Metaphysics. By J. E. Raven. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.Pp. 256. $5.50.) This study is the product of a series of lectures on the development of Plato's metaphysics given by Raven at Cambridge University since 1950. For the most part, the audience to which it is addressed are undergraduates studying Plato and non-specialists interested in the classics. However, the main thesis of the book, contained in Part II, Chapter 10, challenges the generally accepted interpretation of the three principal allegories of Platonic thought with a closely argued and highly controversial version of their meaning. The Introduction and Part I constitute a quite readable and lucid examination of the philosophical antecedents of Plato and of the early dialogues in so far as they reflect the kind of problems with which Plato was initially concerned. Part II, the main core of the book, concentrates on the middle dialogues, Phaedo, Symposium, Republic, and Phaedrus. Since the only original thesis affecting the interpretation of Platonic thought is developed in this section, I would like to discuss it in some detail later. The intention of Part III is to elaborate further the thesis of Part II with special attention given to the later dialogues. Since it introduces no new or specialized material, we are justifiedin assuming that the burden of the book liesin Part If. Part II opens with a discussion of the importance of the Phaedo in the growth of Plato's mature thought. According to Raven, the Phaedo marks the genesis of Plato's original thought for two reasons: (1) It contains the firstexplicit formulation of the theory of Ideas, (2) the "hypothetical method" is advanced as the principal means of philosophical discovery. In the Phaedo, Plato moves towards an account of the relation of the Ideas to particulars by describing a twofold movement of thought, an upward and downward movement. Starting from the hypothesis of the Ideas, "the downward movement proceeds, by deduction from the Ideas, to give an account of particulars" (p. 101). The upward movement of thought is only summarized in the Phaedo as that process of inductive reflection whereby hypotheses are justified by progressively grounding them in higher levels of reality until something 'satisfactory'is reached. In this, however, there is nothing new, so we must turn to Raven's interpretation of the three great allegories or "analogies" of the Republic, the Sun, the Divided Line, and the Cave, to find Raven's original thesis and, says Raven, Plato's most profound thought. Raven contends that the analogy of the Sun is introduced by Plato to answer the question, What is the highest object of knowledge? The sun in its relation to sight, the power of vision, the eye, and the cause of generation is analogous to the Good in its relation to truth or knowledge , the intelligibilityof the Ideas, the soul, and the being of the Ideas. Raven claims that in the analogy of the Sun, "sight is not intended to represent all forms of fallibleperception or opinion" (p. 140). Therefore, in this analogy, the visible world, not the world of the senses in general or the world of opinions, is being compared with the intelligibleworld. The analogy of the Divided Line which follows directly upon the analogy of the Sun is simply a continuation of the former analogy! The remarkable conclusion is that in the analogy of the Divided Line the sensible world is represented by and limited to the solitary sense of sight and its objects. Those familiar with orthodox interpretation of Plato will recognize that this account challenges the traditional interpretation of the Divided Line. Most commentators on Plato have argued that the analogy of the Line gives a complete hierarchical classificationof the contents of the world of opinion and appearance and of the world of intelligibilityand being. If Raven's version is correct, then the sole intention of the Divided Line is the illumination of the contents of the intelligible world by means of an analogy with the visiblel Raven marshals three facts in support of his interpretation: (1) Plato's explicit statement...