Anna Motta

The approach I propose here to Books VI and VII of Plato’s Republic is to offer some reflections on the organicist and perspectivist readings. Perspectivism seems in some respects to be a variant of organicism. Indeed, both approaches allow for a reassessment not only of the various parts that make up a dialogue, but also, more generally, of the importance of the literary or dramatic form, which is marginalised by the evolutionist reading. The aim of this essay is therefore to try to understand some of the images present in the central books of the Republic, without burdening them with theoretical structures and questionable chronologies, but rather by noting their importance in the overall design of the individual text and their consistence within a broader organism, the entire and unitary Platonic corpus of dialogues. To this end, I will try to highlight the subtle differences between organicism and perspectivism. I will focus on the relationship between literary constructions and theoretical speculations that make the Republic an organically unified text in itself and perfectly consistent with the entire corpus of dialogues. Three images in particular will help me to show how literature and philosophy meet: the sun analogy, the divided line and the allegory of the cave. My aim is not to say what exactly the epistemology of the central books of the Republic consists in, but rather to try to identify the pitfalls in the text when philosophical questions about epistemological issues are separated from literary ones.

The aim of this paper, which is devoted to the Proclean Commentary on the Alcibiades I, is to explain not only why this dialogue is so popular in Neoplatonism, i.e. why it is considered the foundation of Plato’s teaching, but also its methodological importance for reading the proems of the dialogues. For, in my opinion, it has not yet been properly investigated whether and why the two issues, i.e. the introductory importance and the importance for grasping the relevance of the proems, are closely linked. I will therefore first try to show how the isagogical questions are perfectly embedded in a philosophical system that has redefined the very criteria of textual analysis around the idea that each dialogue is a literary microcosm analogous to the macrocosmic universe. I will then show how the exegetical methods proposed by Proclus in his Commentary on the Alcibiades are influenced by certain theoretical assumptions that are useful for reading the dialogues in general, and finally I will demonstrate how the proem of the Alcibiades allows us to re-evaluate the importance of the proems that Plato appended to his writings.

The aim of this paper is to show that an introductory step to the Neoplatonic exegesis of the dialogue was to redefine the figure of Socrates and Socratism, so as to offer aspiring Platonists a correct interpretation of Plato and of the Neoplatonic metaphysical system. In the final stages of a long tradition, Socrates became the teacher par excellence not only of Plato but of all Platonists. In particular, by focusing on the Prolegomena to Platonic philosophy I wish to highlight the fact that, when it comes to teaching, there is no Socrates but Plato’s teacher, a teacher whose many voices – universalised according to well-defined criteria – can also be attributed to Plato. If Plato came to be seen as polyphonic and always self-consistent, this is probably because it was possible to show that Socrates’ hallmark was his ability to remain consistent while expressing many different opinions in the dialogues.

This paper investigates Neoplatonist literary criticism by framing the special interest in the target of each dialogue within the context of cosmo-literary theory. The starting hypothesis is that the themes of Plato's dialogues do not fully meet the expectations of a new didactics based on isagogical schemes as an image of Neoplatonic metaphysics. Among these schemes is the target of each dialogue, whose relation to the theme can be explained, in a fruitful and innovative way, through a cosmic analogy. Thus after examining the more or less explicit criticism of literary criteria of analysis by Plato's ancient exegetes, this article will focus on how Neoplatonists load the Greek term skopos (target) with metaphysical content and, accordingly, on how we should translate it in accordance with the commentators’ intentions. It will show that the target is the literary counterpart to the One, but that it should not be confused with the theme because the latter must be seen as the literary counterpart to the Intellect.

The present paper focuses on some aspects of the Neoplatonist literary-metaphysical theory, which has clearly been expressed in the anony­mous Prolegomena to Plato’s philosophy and further confirmed in Proclus’ exegesis of the Timaeus. Thus, this contribution, examines and compares several passages from the Prolegomena and from Proclus’ Commentary on the Timaeus with a view to showing that it is legiti­mate to speak of a certain cosmogony of the Platonic dialogue that is analogous to that of the macrocosm. Moreover, the analogy between macrocosm and microcosm makes it possible to further investigate the similarity between the λόγος-ζῷον of the Demiurge and that of Timaeus, on the one hand, and the reality which the λόγος expresses, on the other. This similarity turns out to be both structural/morphological and content-related/semantic. Thus, by combining the natural and theo­logical science, the analysis of the “generation” of the macrocosm and microcosm brings out the strongly analogical nature of Plato’s dialogues, which is particularly visible in the Timaeus.

The aim of this paper is to discuss some features of the doctrines of the agrapha dogmata in Neoplatonism, starting from the reading of an anecdote, presented in the Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy, in which Plato dreams that close to death he becomes a swan which hunters are unable to catch. In fact, the dream is an explanation of the development of the Platonic tradition, and, more precisely, it presents a story of several exegetical disagreements that have survived till the present day. Compared to modern interpretation of the Aristotelic testimony on the “so-called unwritten doctrines”, we can state that the late antique interpretations of them focus and depend on what Plato has left us in his written dialogues, which are the best living images of his oral dialogues. This conclusion is, then, a consequence of a study carried out on Ancient and Neoplatonic texts that leads to the acknowledgement of a Platonic philosophical system as well as to an overview of modern secondary bibliography produced by the esoteric interpretation of Plato and various views of scholars who are against this account.

One of the aims of the Neoplatonists is to demonstrate that ancient Presocratic thought is, in fact, a Preplatonic thought. According to the Neoplatonists, Presocratics, who were not far from the truth, employed an inaccurate and ambiguous language, whereas Plato spoke about the truth in a more appropriate and clear way. That is why the Presocratics are not necessarily erroneous and their theoretical originality and their terminology can be incorporated into the Neoplatonic philosophy. I would like to show how some Presocratic theories are embedded in the Neoplatonic metaphysical system of the three Hypostases. Regarding the One and the Intellect, Plotinus, Proclus and the Anonymous Author of the Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy read and employ some Presocratic texts in order to harmonize the Platonic and the Presocratic accounts. Although the Neoplatonists see themselves as continuing the Greek philosophical tradition started by the Presocratics, their interpretation of Presocratic thought illustrates the birth of exegetic philosophy which is able to apply ancient concepts and predicates to its own metaphysical theory.

English and Portuguese Between the 5 th and the 6 th centuries A. D., the Neoplatonic school of Alexandria, where the philosophical didactic follows a specific cursus studiorum , is opened also to the Christian students. D espite some divergences of religious (but also of economical and of political) natures, and after some violent events which occur in the Egyptian city, the Alexandrian school is linked to its contemporary Neoplatonic school in Athens. And indeed t he Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy, i.e. t he introductory lectures discussed by an Anonymous professor in order to present the characteristic of Platonic philosophy, show that the method of teaching Plato is still the same. According to the Neoplatonic exegetical tradition, the text emphasizes that the dialogical artefact fashioned as a cosmos by Plato is a paideutic instrument with a purpose to look away from the sensible and to guide towards the intelligible. Plato, through dialogues, eikones of the invisible, does not create illusions, but contributes to the practice of ‘assimilation’ by filling the writings with greater contents. KEY-WORDS : Plato, Prolegomena , analogy, visible cosmos, invisible cosmos. Entre os século V e VI d.C., a escola neoplatônica de Alexandria, onde a didática filosófica segue um preciso cursus studiorum , é aberta também aos estudantes cristãos. Não obstante algumas diferenças de natureza religiosa (mas também econômica e política), e em seguida a alguns violentos acontecimentos que golpeiam a cidade egípcia, a escola de Alexandria permanece ligada à contemporânea escola neoplatônica ateniense. E, de fato, os Prolegomena à filosofia de Platão, isto é as lições introdutórias dadas por um professor anônimo para apresentar as características da filosofia platônica, mostram que o método de ensinar Platão é ainda o mesmo. Seguindo a tradição exegética neoplatônica, o texto sublinha que o artefato dialógico, plasmado como um cosmo por Platão, é um instrumento paidêutico que tem o objetivo desviar o olhar do sensível e guiar rumo ao inteligível. Platão, através dos diálogos, eikones do invisível, não cria ilusões, mas contribui para a prática da “assimilação” preenchendo os escritos de maiores conteúdos. PALAVRAS CHAVES: Platão, Prolegomena , analogia, cosmo visível, cosmo invisível