The ''Definitions'' ( grc-gre, Ὅροι ''Horoi''; la, Definitiones) is a
dictionary of 184 philosophical terms sometimes included in the corpus of
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's works. Plato is generally not regarded as the editor of all of ''Definitions''. Some ancient scholars attributed ''Definitions'' to
Speusippus
Speusippus (; grc-gre, Σπεύσιππος; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Academy, near age 60, and remaine ...
.
[John Madison Cooper, D. S. Hutchinson (1997), ''Plato – Complete Works''. Hackett Publishing. pp. 1677–1687.]
In modern scholarship, ''Definitions'' is thought to have little philosophical value. Given the sophistication of Plato's and Aristotle's efforts in the area of definition, this collection seems to be an elementary text produced by second-rate philosophical study. Its early date, however, does give it some importance as a source for the history of ancient Platonism.
Content
''Definitions'' is a list of 184 terms important in early Platonism together with one or more brief definitions. Though not in alphabetical or any other simple order, it is possible to discern some features of the organization of the collection. Definitions 1–20 consist chiefly of terms from natural philosophy. Definitions 21–107, the main section of the collection, contain concepts from ethics (affects and virtues), political theory, logic, grammar, and epistemology. Definitions 108–184 are a final appendix that contains a mixture of concepts which sometimes duplicate earlier terms and therefore was probably added at a later date. There are few terms drawn from metaphysics. It is probable that the collection underwent changes through the centuries since the number of definitions in the surviving manuscripts varies.
Methodologically, ''Definitions'' is related to the Platonic Method of Division (
diairesis
Diairesis ( grc, διαίρεσις, diaíresis, "division") is a form of classification used in ancient (especially Platonic) logic that serves to systematize concepts and come to definitions. When defining a concept using diairesis, one starts ...
) that progresses from the more general to the more specific, i.e., from 'above' to 'below.' Definitions were constructed by first giving the genus of the thing to be defined and then giving more and more of its special characteristics (its differentia) until it was fully distinguished from other members of the genus. Such a definition therefore gives the lowest species for the thing defined. In ''Definitions'', for example, the word ''definition'' is defined as ''an expression that is composed of genus and differentia.'' Many definitions in ''Definitions'' follow these principles and define terms by giving their genus and distinguishing characteristics. A human, for example, is a two-footed animal without wings. Here, ''two-footed animal'' is the lowest genus that contains humans and ''without wings'' distinguishes humans from all the other two-footed animals, i.e., from birds. Other definitions, however, consist only of lists of characteristics or are trivial explanations of words. Many concepts are defined simply by giving the distinguishing characteristic. Humans, for example, are also defined as the only rational animal.
Author and time of composition
There is a scholarly consensus that ''Definitions'' cannot be ascribed to Plato. However, many individual points rest on his doctrines and it is probable that the way of defining various concepts goes back to this teaching. It is thought certain that ''Definitions'' originated in the circles around the school of philosophy founded by Plato, i.e., in or around the Academy. The definitions were probably collected at the time of the Early Academy, and indeed in the period immediately following Plato's death, that is, in the second half of the fourth century or the first third of the third century BCE. Key Aristotelian terms such as 'potential' and 'actuality' are not conspicuous in ''Definitions''.
It was conjectured that ''Definitions'' is a selection from a larger collection that was available in the Academy in that period, and may have been the foundation of a lost collection made by
Speusippus
Speusippus (; grc-gre, Σπεύσιππος; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Academy, near age 60, and remaine ...
, Plato's nephew and the second head of the Academy. Today, however, the hypothesis that the extant collection is related to Speusippus' is no longer defended. Whether ''Definitions'' is a compilation made from older collections is debated by scholars.
Reception
The existence of ''Definitions'' is first attested in the Roman imperial period. Until late antiquity, no one else but Plato was named as the author, but the prevailing opinion was that the collection did not originate with him. It was not included in the tetralogical arrangement of Plato's works. The anonymous ''Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy,'' which is dated to late antiquity, designates Speusippus as the author.
The earliest, surviving manuscript is from the ninth century CE.
''Definitions'' was unknown to the Latin-speaking, scholarly world of the Middle Ages and was first rediscovered by
Renaissance humanists
Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...
. In the fifteenth century, the humanist
Marsilio Ficino believed the collection's author was Speusippus.
Ficino translated ''Definitions'' into Latin and published his translation in Venice in 1497 with
Aldus Manutius, and named Speusippus as the author in the introduction.
The
first edition of the Greek text was brought out in Venice by
Aldus Manutius in September 1513 as part of the complete works of Plato edited by
Markos Musuros. This edition was the basis for the Latin translation that the humanist
Willibald Pirckheimer
Willibald Pirckheimer (5 December 1470 – 22 December 1530) was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, imperial counsellor and a member of the governing City ...
brought out in Nuremberg in 1523 with the printer Friedrich Peypus.
[For Pirckheimer's translation see Niklas Holzberg: ''Willibald Pirckheimer'', München 1981, pp. 301–311.]
Editions and translations
![Horoi beginning](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Horoi_beginning._Editio_princeps.jpg)
* John Burnet (ed.). ''Platonis Opera,'' vol. V, Oxford Classical Text (Oxford: Clarendon, 1907) (Greek only).
* Douglas S. Hutchinson (translator). ''Definitions*''. In John M. Cooper (ed.): ''Plato. Complete Works'', Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis/Cambridge 1997, , pp. 1677–1686 (only English translation).
* Joseph Souilhé (ed.). ''Platon: Œuvres complètes'', v. 13, part 3: ''Dialogues apocryphes''. 2nd edition, Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1962, pp. 151–173 (critical edition with French translation).
*
Franz Susemihl
Franz Susemihl (December 10, 1826 – April 30, 1901) was a German classical philologist born in Laage.
He studied ancient languages in Leipzig and Berlin, and from 1848 taught classes at the Domgymnasium in Güstrow. In 1852 he received h ...
(translator). ''Definitionen''. In Erich Ludwig Loewenthal (ed.): ''Platon: Sämtliche Werke in drei Bänden'', v. 3, unchanged reproduction of the 8th edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004, , pp. 787–798 (only German translation).
* Hans Günter Zekl (translator). ''Pseudo-Platon: Begriffsbestimmungen''. In Hans Günter Zekl (ed.): ''Aristoteles: Organon'', v. 2, Felix Meiner, Hamburg 1998, , pp. LXIV–LXXII, 233–245 (only German translation).
Notes
References
* Heinz Gerd Ingenkamp: ''Untersuchungen zu den pseudoplatonischen Definitionen.'' Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1967.
* Hans Krämer: ''Die Ältere Akademie''. In Hellmut Flashar (ed.): ''Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie. Die Philosophie der Antike'', v. 3: ''Ältere Akademie – Aristoteles – Peripatos'', 2nd edition, Schwabe, Basel 2004, pp. 1–165, 96, 109 ff., 158, .
External links
''Definitions''translated by George Burges
Free public domain audiobook version of ''Definitionstranslated by George Burges
* . Collection includes Definitions.
George Burges
George Burges (; 1786 – 11 January 1864) was an English classical scholar who published translations of the works of Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Plato.
Biography
Burges was born in Bengal, India, and was probably the son of Thomas B ...
, translator (1855).
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Works by Plato
Ancient Greek dictionaries
Classical Greek philosophical literature