Abstract
In a reconstruction of the development of the theory of incommensurability, Plato’s reference to the work of Theodorus and Theaetetus commands special attention. For this much-debated account is without question the description by a contemporary of an intermediate stage in that development. In the passage, Theaetetus 147C–148B, which follows, Theaetetus, presented as a pupil of Theodorus in geometry1, is discussing with Socrates how to formulate definitions properly.
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Notes
H. Schmidt, Kritischer Commentar zu Piatos Theätet, 1877, pp. 441–442; F. Hultsch, ‘Die Näherungswerte irrationaler Quadratwurzeln bei Archimedes’, Gott Nach, 1893, pp. 378–381; H. Vogt, ‘Die Entdeckungsgeschichte des Irrationalen’, BM 1909–10,10, pp. 101–105; J. H. Anderhub, ‘Genetrix Irrationalium’, 1941. For a review of these constructions, see K. von Fritz, ‘Theodorus’, in Pauly-Wiss, A10,1934, col. 1814–1815.
S. Heller, ‘Deutung der Theodoros-Stelle’ Centaurus, 1956, 5, pp. 34–35.
A. Wedberg, Plato’s Philosophy of Mathematics, 1955, p. 93; W. D. Ross, Aristotle’s Metaphysics, 1924, I, p. 234, 295 and II, p. 268; J. L. Heiberg, ‘Mathematisches zu Aristoteles’, pp. 5–6. E. Niebel indicates that for Proclus a ‘diagram’ may stand for a ‘theorem’ as a pars pro toto; ‘Geometrische Konstruktion’, pp. 32, 95.
Cf. W. D Ross, Plato’s Theory of Ideas, 1951, p. 2. All the scholars, whose work on the dating of the dialogues he summarizes in his opening chapter, juxtapose the Parmenides and the Theaetetus in the chronological order of authorship. These scholars are H. von Arnim, W. Lutoslawski, H. Raeder, C. Ritter, and U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff.
R. Hackforth, ‘Notes on Plato’s Theaetetus’, Mnemosyne IV, 10, 1957, p. 128.
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© 1975 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Knorr, W.R. (1975). Plato’s Account of the Work of Theodorus. In: The Evolution of the Euclidean Elements. Synthese Historical Library, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1754-1_3
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