A Long Lost Relative in the Parmenides? Plato’s Family of Hypothetical Methods

Abstract: Plato’s Parmenides contains important information for understanding his method(s) of hypothesis, and has been unduly overlooked in this respect. He thematizes a hypothetical method throughout the Parmenides that is importantly distinct from the method(s) of the Meno, Phaedo, and Republic. This evidence suggests that we should understand Plato as having a family of different hypothetical methods that are put to work for different purposes. [If you would like to read something in advance to whet your appetite, take a look at the methodological interlude of the Parmenides, ~134e—137c]