1991 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Studies of the Concept of 'Logos' in Heraclitus and Plato
| Project/Area Number |
01510006
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Philosophy
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
UCHIYAMA katsutoshi Kyoto University, Faculty of Letters Associate Professor, 文学部, 助教授 (80098102)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1989 – 1991
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| Keywords | Heraclitus / Xenophanes / Plato / Pythagoreans / Logos / Dialectic / Simile of Lime / Diaeresis |
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| Research Abstract |
The first aim of this research is to focus upon the Heraclitean thought, in which the term 'logos' appears conspicuously at the first time in the history of Greek philosophy. The investigator tries to trace the historical background of his concept of 'logos' so as to get at the kernel of its wide range of meaning which he intended. The second main task concerns whith the philosophy of Plato, especially in regard to a characteristic feature of the function of 'logos' in it. The investigator aims to clarify the significance of the 'dialogue' structure which Plato adopted to express his thought, and some distinctive merits of the 'dialectical' method, developed from the Socratic 'dialogue' procedure.
One of the results from this study : The Heraclitean concept of 'logos' was not developed under the influence of the earlier Pythagoreanism, but was brought into existence by Heraclitus himself, based on his new consciousness of language, which was common to that of Xenophanes. These two thinkers, setting up 'logos' in opposition to 'mythos' and 'epos' of the traditional poets to whom 'logos' meant only a negative and unsubstantial speech, dared to use it with challenging mind to traditional, poetical wisdom. At the same time, however, they both were deeply conscious of limitedness of human wisdom, to which the 'logos' was just fitted because of its negative connotation. This consciousness was an essential factor for the development of Greek philosophy in the following generations of them.
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