From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordNegation and an opposed positive predicate are different.
- In the SymposiumDiotima makes this distinction explicit and supplies right opinion as a counterexample to an exhaustive binary division.
- Reading contextDiotima makes this distinction explicit and supplies right opinion as a counterexample to an exhaustive binary division.
- A place to readThe false move from negation to a contrary is corrected.
Meaning
Negation and an opposed positive predicate are different. Not beautiful need not mean ugly; not knowledgeable need not mean ignorant.
Use in the book
Diotima makes this distinction explicit and supplies right opinion as a counterexample to an exhaustive binary division. At the summit a long chain of negations removes becoming, destruction, variable beauty and dependence on another thing. Those exclusions jointly characterize the final object; no isolated negative should be treated as its complete positive definition.
Places to read
μή (mē)
mē — Not in the constructions appropriate to conditions, general descriptions and dependent clauses.
- 202b — ὃ μὴ καλόν ἐστιν. What is not beautiful must not be forced to be ugly.
Read: Not and neither.
οὔτε (oute)
oute — Neither or nor; coordinates denials without supplying a positive contrary.
- 201e — οὔτε καλὸς. Love is reported as neither beautiful nor good by Socrates’ earlier account.
Read: Not and neither.