Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 3.1.15

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[15] Now Plato in conceiving his theory of Ideas says¹: Since there is such a thing as memory, there must be ideas present in things, because memory is of something stable and permanent, and nothing is permanent except the ideas. For how, he says, could animals have survived unless they had apprehended the idea and had been endowed by Nature with intelligence to that end? As it is, they remember similarities and what their food is like, which shows that animals have the innate power of discerning what is similar. And hence they perceive others of their own kind. How then does Epicharmus put it?

Vitae philosophorum. Diogenes Laertius. R. D. Hicks (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1925.

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Current edition Perseus

Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.)

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Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων Perseus (Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.) — 3.1.15 focus

[15] Πλάτων ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν ἰδεῶν ὑπολήψει φησίν, εἴπερ ἐστὶ μνήμη, τὰς ἰδέας ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὸ τὴν μνήμην ἠρεμοῦντός τινος καὶ μένοντος εἶναι· μένειν δὲ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τὰς ἰδέας. ιτίνα γὰρ ἂν τρόπον,ʼ φησί, ιδιεσῴζετο τὰ ζῷα μὴ τῆς ἰδίας ἐφαπτόμενα καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο τὸν νοῦν φυσικὸν εἰληφότα; νῦν δὲ μνημονεύει τῆς ὁμοιότητός τε καὶ τροφῆς, ὁποία τις ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς, ἐνδεικνύμενα διότι πᾶσι τοῖς ζῴοις ἔμφυτός ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ὁμοιότητος θεωρία· διὸ καὶ τῶν ὁμοφύλων αἰσθάνεται.ʼ πῶς οὖν ὁ Ἐπίχαρμος;

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. Cf. Phaedo, 96 b (I considered) whether it is blood or air or fire with which we think, or none of these things, but the brain which furnishes the senses of hearing and sight and smell, and from these arise memory and opinion, and from memory and opinion, when they have become stable, in the same way knowledge arises.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 3.1.15

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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