Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Philosophy Ancient & Classical

Knowing Persons

A Study in Plato

by (author) Lloyd P. Gerson

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Initial publish date
May 2007
Category
Ancient & Classical
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780199288670
    Publish Date
    May 2007
    List Price
    $98.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780199257638
    Publish Date
    Feb 2003
    List Price
    $280.00

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

Lloyd P. Gerson is a 2011 Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada.

Knowing Persons is an original study of Plato's account of personhood. For Plato, embodied persons are images of a disembodied ideal. The ideal person is a knower. Hence, the lives of embodied persons need to be understood according to Plato's metaphysics of imagery.

For Gerson, Plato's account of embodied personhood is not accurately conflated with Cartesian dualism. Plato's dualism is more appropriately seen in the contrast between the ideal disembodied person and the embodied one than in the contrast between mind or soul and body.

This study argues that Plato's analysis of personhood is intended to cohere with his two-world metaphysics as well as a radical separation of knowledge and belief. Gerson demonstrates that Plato's account of persons plays a key role not just in his theory of mind, but in his theory of knowledge, his metaphysics, and his ethics. A proper understanding of Plato's account of persons must therefore place it in the context of his doctrines in these areas. Knowing Persons fills a significant gap by showing the way to such an understanding.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Lloyd P. Gerson is at Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

'Review from previous edition for those scholars interested in the concepts of subjectivity, person, and human being in Plato's works, Knowing Persons is an excellent account and resource on these topics' Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'... an interesting reading of Plato on persons and on knowledge.' Lesley Brown, Times Literary Supplement

Other titles by