The Centrality of the Idea of the Good in the Platonic System (1)

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the Idea of the Good, the “unhypothetical first principle of all.” All Platonists have acknowledged the need for a first unifying metaphysical principle of all. That the need for such a principle is recognized in Plato's dialogues, in Aristotle's testimony, and in the indirect tradition was never doubted. Indeed, the Idea of the Good, in Republic, is held by Plato to be the focus of his philosophy. And because of its unique, superordinate, and comprehensive causal scope, it is the focus of his systematic philosophy. The chapter then explores the first principles in Parmenides, Sophist, Philebus, and Timaeus. It also considers Aristotle's account of the nature of the first principles and the evidence of the indirect tradition.