The Manifold Beast Animality Between Ontology and Method in Plato’s Sophist

Abstract

This paper offers a reading of Plato’s Sophist centred on the image of the sophist as a “manifold beast” (226a6), described as “elusive to hunt down” (218d3). Far from being a mere metaphor, this characterisation plays a pivotal role in the dialogue’s dialectical development from both a methodological and an ontological perspective. Indeed, as a cunning prey, the sophist not only demands a sustained and flexible hunt capable of capturing him in his many guises but also compels his own hunters to reconsider their conceptual resources, ultimately leading them beyond Parmenides’ prohibition. On this basis, the sophist’s animality – depicted as a wild beast, almost monstrous – is not merely a denigrating device, but a theoretical one that drives philosophical inquiry into a dark and unexplored region: the intertwining of Being and Non-Being.