Definitions (Plato)

Definitions
The oldest, surviving manuscript of Definitions: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Gr. 1807 (9th century), first page
AuthorPseudo-Plato
LanguageAncient Greek
SubjectPhilosophy

The Definitions (Greek: Ὅροι Horoi; Latin: Definitiones[1]) is a dictionary of 184 philosophical terms sometimes included in the corpus of Plato's works. Plato is generally not regarded as the editor of all of Definitions. Some ancient scholars attributed Definitions to Speusippus.[2]

In modern scholarship, Definitions is thought to have little philosophical value. Given the sophistication of Plato's and Aristotle's efforts in the area of definition, this collection seems to be an elementary text produced by second-rate philosophical study.[citation needed] Its early date, however, does give it some importance as a source for the history of ancient Platonism.[3]

  1. ^ Henri Estienne (ed.), Platonis opera quae extant omnia, Vol. 3, 1578, p. 411.
  2. ^ John Madison Cooper, D. S. Hutchinson (1997), Plato – Complete Works. Hackett Publishing. pp. 1677–1687.
  3. ^ Hans Günter Zekl (ed.): Aristoteles: Organon, v. 2, Hamburg 1998, pp. LXIV, LXX–LXXII.