Likeness and Likelihood in the Presocratics and Plato

TheGreekwordeoikoscanbetranslatedinvariousways,beingusedtodescribesimilarity,plausibilityorevensuitability.Thisbookexploresthephilosophicalexploitationofitsmultiplemeaningsbythreephilosophers,Xenophanes,ParmenidesandPlato.Itoffersnewinterpretationsofthewaythateachemploysthetermtodescribethestatusofhisphilosophy,tracingthedevelopmentofthisphilosophicaluseofeoikosfromthefallibilismofXenophanesthroughthedeceptivecosmologyofParmenidestoPlato'sTimaeus.Thecentralpremiseofthebookisthat,inreflectingontheeoikosstatusoftheiraccounts,Xenophanes,ParmenidesandPlatoaremanipulatingthecontextsandconnotationsofthetermasithasbeenusedbytheirpredecessors.Byfocusingonthiscontinuityinthedevelopmentofthephilosophicaluseofeoikos,thebookservestoenhanceourunderstandingoftheepistemologyandmethodologyofXenophanes,ParmenidesandPlato'sTimaeus.