Christliche Erotik in platonischem Gewand: Transformationstheoretische Überlegungen zur methodianischen Umdeutung von Platons Symposion (original) (raw)
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The Platonic corpus uses the word ἀλήθεια or ‘truth’ to denote not only that fundamental intellectual element we employ to piece together Plato’s thought and work but also, invariably and inseparably, a particular reality that guides us towards a ‘way of life’: something for men and women who strive, from one moment to the next, to become whole as human beings by immersing themselves in truth, living by truth and for it, and defending truth against guile and deceit. To argue this central idea, and to enable the reader to appreciate both the historical context in which Plato’s thought evolved and the innovative nature of his approach to ἀλήθεια at the time in which he lived, the present study begins with a review of the general importance attri- buted to the word in the beginnings of the Greek world and with observations on changes in its meaning during that period of history leading up to Plato’s lifetime in the fourth century BCE. This will help us understand the manner in which Pl...
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International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2016
Through a novel set of texts drawn from Plato, Porphyry, Plotinus, Ps. Julian, Proclus, Hermeias, Synesius and Damascius, I explore how anagogic erōs in master-disciple relationships in Neoplatonism contributed to the attainment of self-knowledge and to the transmission of knowledge, authority and inspired insights within and outside the diadochia. I view anagogic erōs as one of the most important channels of non-discursive pedagogy and argue for the mediating power of anagogic erōs in the attainment of the main goal of the Platonist: reorienting desire (erōs) from sensible to intelligible beauty and changing one's ontological status to become like god and attain union with the divine. After considering the problematic nature of Socratic erōs, its skeptics and detractors, I discuss the dynamics of philosopher-disciple relationships and the experience of anagogic erōs in the following: the attack on Porphyry and defense by Plotinus following Porphyry's recital of an ecstatic poem on Hieros Gamos (Vita Plotini 15), the concealment of anagogic erōs behind the authoritative façade of an oracle (VP 22-23), the intensely devotional private letters of Ps. Julian to the aged Iamblichus and of Synesius to his female master Hypatia; the identification of anagogic erōs with theur-gic ascent in Syrianus's school according to Proclus and Hermeias and the experiences of anagogic erōs outside the diadochia in Damascius' Philosophical History. I conclude that the true and correct practice of philosophy had much, if not everything to do with the anagogic erōs between the true philosopher, the bacchant and the philosopher in training, aspiring to become transformed from thyrsus-bearer into bacchant. * I am deeply grateful to John Bussanich, John Finamore, Sara Ahbel-Rappe, Virginia Burrus, Mark Edwards, Svetla Slaveva-Griffin, Geert Roskam and the audience at the 2012 AAR meeting of the Platonism and Neoplatonism group in Chicago for their stimulating questions, feedback and comments on this paper. All translations are mine unless otherwise indicated.
The aim of this paper is to examine the interesting Neoplatonist tendency to adopt and lend fixed form to schemata isagogica before the systematic reading of Plato’s dialogues. By examining some of the preliminary questions investigated in late antique schools and established at the beginning of the Platonist curriculum, an attempt will be made to show that the schemata, when employed by the Neoplatonists, do not simply follow extrinsic criteria, i.e. that they cannot be reduced to rhetorical devices used to read any text. As the divine creation of a divine literary craftsman, the Platonic text is not just any text; hence, the exegetical categories put forward in rhetorical treatises prove necessary yet not sufficient in themselves to justify the application of rhetorical reading schemata to the fully systematized corpus of Plato’s writings. An attempt will be made to ascertain how and on what basis these schemata were absorbed within the Platonic system, made compatible with the core theoretical tenets of Neoplatonism, and used to justify some of the doctrinal innovations introduced by the Neoplatonists.
PLATONIC METHODOLOGICAL ALTERATIONS: ELENCHUS, DIALECTICS, AND DIAERESIS
Philosophia, 2021
Whether all the Platonic dialogues are parts of an inconsistent or consistent body is a controversial subject of philosophy. Indeed, though in form all the texts are written dialogically, in content, one might recognize methodological alterations in Platonic thought from the 1st book of The Republic to later dialogues such as The Statesman and The Laws. However, how much this methodological alteration might affect the content of Plato's political philosophy, the relation between the rupture in the method of contemplation on the one hand and the structure of the Platonic ideal Polis is still a subject not seriously explored yet. Exploring the characteristics of the three different methods used in Plato's different dialogues, the present study attempts to show that in the light of the methodological alteration, one might realize how Platonic understanding of the good society has changed from The Republic to The Statesman and The Laws.
Marco Donato’s chapter “Dialoguing with Plato: Allusions, Borrowings and Exegesis in Platonic Spuria” considers in more detail two dialogues from the Appendix Platonica: the short dialogue On Virtue and the Sisyphus. Both build upon Plato’s Meno, but with notable reformulations and, at least since the end of the nineteenth century, this play of allusions has been interpreted as a sign of forgery, even if confirming the Academic origins of dubia and spuria. By inquiring into the practical and exegetical background of these reprises, Donato shows how production of school dialogues supported specific interpretations of Plato’s texts and could be used as a way to dialogue with the founder of the school through his writings.