Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 1 — Plato — John Shaqi
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 1
Plato · en
Mr. J. S. Mill observes, Syst. of Logic, i. 5, 6, p. 116,
ed. 9:--"There is still another exceptional case, in which, though
the predicate is the name of a class, yet in predicating it we affirm
nothing but resemblance: the class being founded not on resemblance in
any given particular, but on general unanalysable resemblance. The
classes in question are those into which our simple sensations, or
other simple feelings, are divided. Sensations of white, for instance,
are classed together, not because we can take them to pieces, and say,
they are alike in this, not alike in that but because we feel them to
be alike altogether, though in different degrees. When therefore I
say--The colour I saw yesterday was a white colour, or, The sensation
I feel is one of tightness--in both cases the attribute I affirm of
the colour or of the other sensation is mere resemblance: simple
likeness to sensations which I have had before, and which have had
that name bestowed upon them. The names of feelings, like other
concrete general names, are connotative: but they connote a mere
resemblance. When predicated of any individual feelings, the
information they convey is that of its likeness to the other feelings
which we have been accustomed to call by the same name."]
[Side-note: Later Grecian Cynics--Monimus--Krates--Hipparchia.]
Monimus a Syracusan, and Krates a Theban, with his wife
Hipparchia,[140] were successors of Diogenes in the Cynic vein of
philosophy: together with several others of less note. Both Monimus
and Krates are said to have been persons of wealthy condition,[141]
yet their minds were so powerfully affected by what they saw of
Diogenes, that they followed his example, renounced their wealth, and
threw themselves upon a life of poverty; with nothing beyond the
wallet and the threadbare cloak, but with fearless independence of
character, free censure of every one, and indifference to opinion. "I
choose as my country" (said Krates) "poverty and low esteem, which
fortune cannot assail: I am the fellow-citizen of Diogenes, whom the
snares of envy cannot reach."[142] Krates is said to have admonished
every one, whether they invited it or not: and to have gone unbidden
from house to house for the purpose of exhortation. His persistence in
this practice became so obtrusive that he obtained the title of "the
Door-Opener".[143] This feature, common to several other Cynics,
exhibits an approximation to the missionary character of Sokrates, as
described by himself in the Platonic Apology: a feature not found in
any of the other eminent heads of philosophy--neither in Plato nor in
Aristotle, Zeno, or Epikurus.