Care consorelle , cari confratelli, amici e simpatizzanti della San Carlo
segnaliamo la seguente conferenza in lingua Inglese presso la FTL
Istituto di Filosofia
Data: 20 marzo 2026 / 16:30
Room Multiuso
Abstract: The talk addresses the complex relation between Forms and definitions in Plato. A straightforward conjecture about this relation might be that to define things like justice or beauty one must refer to the corresponding Forms, i.e. the Form of Justice or the Form of Beauty. In other words, Platonic Forms fulfil the role of the definientia in a proper definition. But even if this conjecture goes in the right direction, at least in so far as the middle and later dialogues are concerned, neither did Plato present this view out of the blue in these dialogues nor has he ever unfolded it in full detail and as explicitly as one may wish. In this talk, I examine in more depth why Forms are well suited, according to Plato, to be definientia, or even to be the only appropriate definientia whatsoever. I start by asking what motivates Plato to develop an interest in definitions in the early dialogues. I submit that it is through the various unsatisfying answers offered by his interlocutors that Plato’s Socrates first develops a substantial conception of the conditions that must be met by a satisfactory definition. This reveals also the need for the explanatory priority of the definiens in good definitions and paves the way for asking why and to what extent, according to Plato, only Forms turn out to be suited to fulfil this explanatory role in definitions.
On Friday, March 20 at 4.30pm (CET), Room Multiuso FTL Building (USI west campus)
Béatrice Lienemann (University of Fribourg)
