Laura Marongiu

In Plato’s Sophist, the Stranger proposes a division more geometrico by cutting the productive art widthwise and lengthwise (265e8-266d7). In this paper, I shall reconstruct the often-neglected mathematical background of this complex διαίρεσις. By laying emphasis on its two-dimensional, quadratic structure, I shall argue that this division is not – strictly speaking – dichotomous but represents some sort of deviation from the bifurcation pattern widely employed and recommended elsewhere...