cease to be many; and in whatever degree or sense they are many they cease
to be one.

Two points remain to be considered: 1st, the connexion between the first
and second parts of the dialogue; 2ndly, the relation of the Parmenides to
the other dialogues.

I. In both divisions of the dialogue the principal speaker is the same,
and the method pursued by him is also the same, being a criticism on
received opinions: first, on the doctrine of Ideas; secondly, of Being.
From the Platonic Ideas we naturally proceed to the Eleatic One or Being
which is the foundation of them. They are the same philosophy in two
forms, and the simpler form is the truer and deeper. For the Platonic
Ideas are mere numerical differences, and the moment we attempt to
distinguish between them, their transcendental character is lost; ideas of
justice, temperance, and good, are really distinguishable only with
reference to their application in the world. If we once ask how they are
related to individuals or to the ideas of the divine mind, they are again
merged in the aboriginal notion of Being. No one can answer the questions
which Parmenides asks of Socrates. And yet these questions are asked with
the express acknowledgment that the denial of ideas will be the destruction
of the human mind. The true answer to the difficulty here thrown out is
the establishment of a rational psychology; and this is a work which is
commenced in the Sophist. Plato, in urging the difficulty of his own
doctrine of Ideas, is far from denying that some doctrine of Ideas is
necessary, and for this he is paving the way.

In a similar spirit he criticizes the Eleatic doctrine of Being, not
intending to deny Ontology, but showing that the old Eleatic notion, and
the very name 'Being,' is unable to maintain itself against the subtleties