This theory is supposed to be based on Aristotle's Metaphysics, a
passage containing an account of the ideas, which hitherto scholars have
found impossible to reconcile with the statements of Plato himself. The
preparations for the new departure are discovered in the Parmenides and
in the Theaetetus; and it is said to be expressed under a different
form by the (Greek) and the (Greek) of the Philebus. The (Greek) of the
Philebus is the principle which gives form and measure to the (Greek);
and in the 'Later Theory' is held to be the (Greek) or (Greek) which
converts the Infinite or Indefinite into ideas. They are neither (Greek)
nor (Greek), but belong to the (Greek) which partakes of both.
With great respect for the learning and ability of Dr. Jackson, I find
myself unable to agree in this newly fashioned doctrine of the Ideas,
which he ascribes to Plato. I have not the space to go into the question
fully; but I will briefly state some objections which are, I think,
fatal to it.
(1) First, the foundation of his argument is laid in the Metaphysics of
Aristotle. But we cannot argue, either from the Metaphysics, or from any
other of the philosophical treatises of Aristotle, to the dialogues
of Plato until we have ascertained the relation in which his so-called
works stand to the philosopher himself. There is of course no doubt
of the great influence exercised upon Greece and upon the world by
Aristotle and his philosophy. But on the other hand almost every one who
is capable of understanding the subject acknowledges that his writings
have not come down to us in an authentic form like most of the dialogues
of Plato. How much of them is to be ascribed to Aristotle's own hand,
how much is due to his successors in the Peripatetic School, is a
question which has never been determined, and probably never can be,
because the solution of it depends upon internal evidence only. To
'the height of this great argument' I do not propose to ascend. But one
little fact, not irrelevant to the present discussion, will show
how hopeless is the attempt to explain Plato out of the writings of
Aristotle. In the chapter of the Metaphysics quoted by Dr. Jackson,
about two octavo pages in length, there occur no less than seven or
eight references to Plato, although nothing really corresponding to them
can be found in his extant writings:--a small matter truly; but what a
light does it throw on the character of the entire book in which they
occur! We can hardly escape from the conclusion that they are not
statements of Aristotle respecting Plato, but of a later generation of
Aristotelians respecting a later generation of Platonists. (Compare
the striking remark of the great Scaliger respecting the Magna
Moralia:--Haec non sunt Aristotelis, tamen utitur auctor Aristotelis
nomine tanquam suo.)