The 'problem of fire': referring to phenomena in Plato's 'Timaeus.'

Plato's main interest in the 'Timaeus' is how phenomena should be talked about in light of their problematic behavior. The text has been analyzed by scholars extensively. The most-discussed syntactical dispute is over a phrase that translates into 'not this but the suchlike to call fire,' which occurs three times in the given passage. Analysis suggests that Plato rejects the idea of individual material substances.