K. Papalexiou, The outline of the book, Plato's Theaetetus, Introduction, Translation, Commentary (original) (raw)

The Anonymous ’ Commentary on Plato ’ s Theatetus and a Middle - Platonic Theory of Knowledge

In this paper, I defend that the historiographical category of eclecticism is a correct way to describe the epistemology and the exegetical activity of the Anonymous commentator on Plato's Theaetetus. In addition, I show that the interpretation of the platonic philosophy presented in this text not only presupposes an eclectic philosophical attitude, but also offers a conscious defense of a

The Situation of Epistemology in Plato's Theaetetus

While it may be controversial to categorize Plato's Theatetetus as " epistemological, " given what is implied by this term, the dialogue does offer a discourse on knowledge, at least in the minimal sense of questioning knowledge. But more than that, the dialogue " situates " its questioning, and its critical examination of attempted definitions of knowledge, in two ways that are particularly illuminating: first, its dramatization of Socrates coming-to-know Theaetetus through philosophical dialogue; second, its taking for granted a whole array of epistemic practices and keeping them in view, peripherally, throughout the discussion. The most interesting example of the latter is found in the famous Digression of the Theaetetus, where the difference between philosophy and rhetoric is understood in terms of the knowledge/lack-of-knowledge belonging to each.

Plato, Hermeneutics and Knowledge

trópos: RIVISTA DI ERMENEUTICA E CRITICA FILOSOFICA, 2017

The dialogue “Theaetetus” has once again become famous due to discussion on the concept ‘knowledge’ in analytic philosophy. In my paper, I provide a novel interpretation of this dialogue and demonstrate how it can be applied for a specification of hermeneutics. For this, I revisit this dialogue and argue, against the dominant view, that Plato achieves a positive result concerning the concept of knowledge. I show that this kind of knowledge can be interpreted as a special kind of ‘practical knowledge’ and used for the reconstruction of a hermeneutic tradition à la Dilthey. I then demonstrate the main characteristics of this kind of knowledge analysing the relationship between the concepts ‘knowledge’ and ‘belief ’ and between the concepts ‘knowledge’ and ‘truth’, and challenging the standard definition of knowledge as a true justified belief from the hermeneutic perspective. One methodological implication of my paper may be to challenge the dominant and sometimes eliminative projects assuming that all knowledge can be somehow reduced to propositional knowledge.

Introduction to the Study of Plato

Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2022

This chapter offers a guide to reading Plato’s dialogues, including an overview of his corpus. We recommend first considering each dialogue as its own unified work, before considering how it relates to the others. In general, the dialogues explore ideas and arguments, rather than presenting parts of a comprehensive philosophical system that settles on final answers. The arc of a dialogue frequently depends on who the individual interlocutors are. We argue that the traditional division of the corpus (into Socratic, middle, late stages) is useful, regardless of whether it is a chronological division. Our overview of the corpus gives special attention to the Republic, since it interweaves so many of his key ideas, even if nearly all of them receive longer treatments in other dialogues. Although Plato recognized the limits inherent in written (as opposed to spoken) philosophy, he devoted his life to producing these works, which are clearly meant to help us seek the deepest truths. Little can be learned from reports of Plato’s oral teaching or the letters attributed to him. Understanding the dialogues on their own terms is what offers the greatest reward.

The Platonic Soul, from the Early Academy to the First Centuryce

Body and Soul in Hellenistic Philosophy, 2020

For the modern reader, Timaeus 35a counts among the more abstruse passages in Plato's dialogues. But for ancient Platonists, too, it was considered to be obscure, yet also exerted an enduring fascination and was believed to contain the key to understanding Plato's concept of the soul. It indeed provides a technical description of the composition and nature of the world soul and can therefore be used better to understand the (rational) human soul, which was held to be structured analogously. Plutarch of Chaeronea is the author of an exegetical work dedicated to this passage. 2 Even though it is the oldest extensive treatment to have come down to us, there is strong evidence, as I hope to show, for an older exegetical tradition, going back to debates in the Early Academy. This exegetical tradition may not have been continuous, but there are traces of it even in the Hellenistic era. In this contribution I offer a reconstruction of the tradition preceding Plutarch. 3 Not only will this allow us a better understanding of Plutarch's own project, but it will also shed some light on some relatively unknown chapters in the history of the interpretation of Plato and on some other issues that are better known, but not fully understood, as for instance Xenocrates' and Speusippus' definitions of the soul. As Plutarch reads the passage, Plato specifies four 4 'ingredients' or constituents: (a) 'indivisible and always changeless being' (short: Indivisible Being); (b) '[being] that becomes divisible in the presence of'-or 'around'-bodies' or also 'divisible [being] belonging to bodies' 5 (ἡ περὶ τὰ σώµατα γιγνοµένη µεριστή [οὐσία]-short, but less accurate: 'Divisible Being'); 1 I would like to thank the participants of the Symposium Hellenisticum for their helpful questions and observations, and especially Brad Inwood, David Sedley, James Warren and the anonymous referees for their written remarks, from which I have greatly benefited. I further thank Emidio Spinelli, Francesco Verde, Riccardo Chiaradonna, Thomas Johansen, Eyjólfur Emilsson, and the members of the Centre Léon Robin for their comments. 2 More precisely to the consecutive passages Tim. 35a1-b4 and 35b4-36b5. 3 Some later interpretations are examined in Phillips (2002). 4 See also Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. Hyp. 3.189.

S.I.1 Understanding Plato's Dialogues

This is the first chapter of the first section of my unpublished 1980s PhD thesis. It outlines the textual evidence for a new framework for understanding Plato's dialogues. The second chapter, to follow, examines what the dialogues say about the education and learning of soul, as it is this that they image.