[163c]
what will be the consequences in regard to it?” “Yes.” “Does the expression 'is not' denote anything else than the absence of existence in that of which we say that it is not?” “No, nothing else.” “And when we say that a thing is not, do we mean that it is in a way and is not in a way? Or does the expression 'is not' mean without any qualifications that the non-existent is not in any way, shape, or manner, and does not participate in being in any way?” “Without any qualifications whatsoever.” “Then the non-existent cannot be and cannot in any other way partake of existence.”
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925.
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