Abstract
The limits of a systematic approach in the study of Plato are due not only to the
difficulties arousing from the effort to reconstruct a chronology of composition of the dialogues but still more to the fact that in none of them does Plato speak, either directly
nor through a spokesman. The realization of this evidence is shared nowadays by
increasingly many scholars, who deeply differ in the way to solve the hermeneutical
problems it engenders, as the present article seeks to show. In this context, the great
book of C. H. Zuckert, Plato’s Philosophers. The Coherence of the Dialogues, displays a
considerable effort to offer a coherent new reading of the dialogues. Her method, based
on the conjunction of contextualization and overarching narrative, develops some
fundamental insights of Leo Strauss and takes a remarkable position in contemporary
Platonic research based on anonymity. Among the major novelties of her analysis lies
the relevance attributed to Plato’s philosophers, that is, to all the characters who, besides
Socrates, take charge of the conversation. If considered inside the overarching narrative
of all the dialogues of the corpus platonicum, they exemplify and articulate different
understandings of philosophy and let Socrates’ own position better emerge, as can be
shown in the case of the Eleatic philosophers.
Titolo tradotto del contributo | [Autom. eng. transl.] A reassembled enigma? Characters, anonymity and coherence of the dialogues in Plato by Catherine Zuckert and Leo Strauss |
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Lingua originale | Italian |
pagine (da-a) | 101-121 |
Numero di pagine | 21 |
Rivista | PHILOSOPHIA |
Volume | 46 |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2016 |
Keywords
- Plato, anonimity, coherence of the dialogues, C. Zuckert, L. Strauss