Is the True Self God at Alcibiades 133c?

International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 17 (2):178-189 (2022)
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Abstract

Throughout the Platonic tradition, one encounters the idea that the true self of each person is, at bottom, numerically identical to a singular reality and hence that the distinction between one person’s true self and another’s is either illusory or derivative in some way. I label this idea the Strong Identity Thesis. While several passages might be cited to locate this thesis in the Platonic dialogues themselves, the striking culmination of the First Alcibiades is especially suggestive. In this paper, however, I argue that this passage does not in fact support the attribution of the Strong Identity Thesis to Plato. Instead, I will argue for the Weak Identity Thesis: namely that there is merely an analogical or qualitative link between the true self and some ultimate reality.

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Daniel T. Sheffler
Georgetown College

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References found in this work

God as the True Self.David M. Johnson - 1999 - Ancient Philosophy 19 (1):1-19.
Plato's Thought.Harold Cherniss & G. M. A. Grube - 1936 - American Journal of Philology 57 (4):480.
Note on Alcibiades I, 129B 1.R. E. Allen - 1962 - American Journal of Philology 83 (2):187.
Platonic Dualism.L. P. Gerson - 1986 - The Monist 69 (3):352-369.

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