Note on Plat. Soph. 248a10-12

Καὶ σώματι μὲν ἡμᾶς γενέσει δι᾽ αἰσθήσεως κοινωνεῖν, διὰ λογισμοῦ δὲ ψυχῇ πρὸς τὴν ὄντως οὐσίαν, ἣν ἀεὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὡσαύτως ἔχειν φατέ, γένεσιν δὲ ἄλλοτε ἄλλως.

On the seemingly incidental use of πρός in the context of apprehension of reality. Plato has set up what should be a congruent differentiation between apprehending being from becoming. One ‘participates’ in becoming by means of the body (in the dative) through (δι᾽ αἰσθήσεως) sensation. We expect a fully consonant construction for its correlate, rational apprehension. We partially get it: supplying the analogous infinitive ‘to participate’ (κοινωνεῖν), ‘one participates πρὸς τὴν ὄντως οὐσίαν by means of the soul through reasoning (διὰ λογισμοῦ). Everything else matches well except the verb κοινωνεῖν which, instead of joining with a dative has to have as its object this vague phrase ‘towards true reality’. It’s so odd to parse ‘participation towards something’, that it compels one either to take very seriously the fact that a first-rate stylist would endorse such an infelicitous sentence to express a certain quality about being (namely that it cannot allow for participation simpliciter) — or it makes one suspicious of the text. According to the new Oxford edition these lines evince no signs of corruption, nor signs of being spurious.