Aristotle tells us that Plato had an unwritten doctrine or unwritten dogmas (agrapha dogmata). Commenting on Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle recorded:
“It is true, indeed, that the account he gives there of the participant is different from what he says in his so-called unwritten teaching.”
- Aristotle, Physics 209b
This secret teaching conforms to something said by Plato in his Seventh Letter:
“Every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully avoids writing” (344c).
So what is this secret “unwritten doctrine” of Plato? I can’t write it down. Come to class and find out…
Taylor Marshall is the Adjunct Instructor in Philosophy at the University of Dallas. 