Gilbert Ryle and Plato’s theory of forms

Abstract

This essay is dedicated to the interpretation that Gilbert Ryle gave to Plato’s theory of forms. Despite having distinguished himself as an exponent of Analytic Philosophy and Ordinary Language Philosophy in the context of the University of Oxford, Ryle qualified as a philologist by reading the vast production of Plato’s dialogues. Among Ryle’s most significant essays are those referring to the dialogues of Plato’s maturity (Theaetetus, Sophist, Parmenides), where the ancient Athenian philosopher expounded his conception of the art of dialectics. Then Ryle highlighted the relationship between the theory of forms and the theory of being, on the basis of an original rereading of the concept of idea, i.e. of form, separated from the traditional ontologism attributed to both Parmenides and Plato.