Forms and Structure in Plato's Metaphysics

Book excerpt: This book investigates the thought of two of the most influential philosophers of antiquity, Plato and his predecessor Anaxagoras, with respect to their metaphysical accounts of objects and their properties. Marmodoro introduces a fresh perspective on these two thinkers' ideas, showing Plato's theory to be indebted to Anaxagoras's, and principally arguing that their core metaphysical concept is overlap: overlap between properties and objects in the world. She contends that Plato initially endorses Anaxagoras's model of constitutional overlap, but subsequently develops his own model of qualitative overlap. Overlap is the crux of our understanding of how for Plato objects participate in Forms, of how objects are related without relations, of the role of Forms as causes, and more. Marmodoro's interpretation shows Plato to be ground-breaking in his understanding of structure as a property, in his explanation of composition, and in his account of metaphysical emergence. Book jacket.