[525a]
whatever then is
the one as such, and thus the study of unity will be one of the studies that
guide and convert the soul to the contemplation of true being.”
“But surely,” he said, “the visual perception of
it1
does especially involve this. For we see the same thing at once as one and as an
indefinite plurality.2”
“Then if this is true of the one,” I said, “the
same holds of all number, does it not?” “Of
course.” “But, further, reckoning and the science of
arithmetic3 are wholly concerned with number.”
1 See crit. note and Adam ad loc.
2 This is the problem of the one and the many with which Plato often plays, which he exhaustively and consciously illustrates in the Parmenides, and which the introduction to the Philebus treats as a metaphysical nuisance to be disregarded in practical logic. We have not yet got rid of it, but have merely transferred it to psychology.
3 Cf. Gorg. 450 D, 451 B-C.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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