An Institutional Approach to Ancient Philosophical Texts: Plato’s Ion

Abstract

The institutional approach to interpreting philosophical texts, which is a valuable supplement to the traditional historical, philological, and philosophical methods of analysis, requires from the reader a reflective technique and an understanding of the kind of statements it can validate. Factors such as the author’s self-esteem and its effect on the process of creating the text, as well as the intended genre and audience are all brought into the material studied (a philosophical text) through the institutional approach. Meeting all these requirements results in a delineation of an institution that permits objectification of the author’s stance and manner of inquiry. An analysis of the Plato’s Ion, which is usually considered one of the earliest of his dialogues, offers an example the institutional approach to philosophical texts. The article calls into question an early date for Ion because Plato’s earlier dialogues are typically retellings of previous conversations. The Ion, however, consists of direct dialogue in a dramatic format - a style proper to the late dialogues, which reflect the technique developed for the arguments and disputations between schools; these debates were conducted according to certain rules and referred to summaries of material previously selected (as Aristotle’s Topics and Sophistical Refutations demonstrate). Furthermore, the Ion echoes Plato’s Republic (just as Homer in the Republic is not versed in the arts and crafts, the rhapsodist in the Ion who recites Homer’s depictions of those skills likewise has not mastered any of them) and with the Phaedrus (which like the Ion explores the concept of divine madness). These parallels strongly suggest that the Ion is among the later dialogues and consequently call its attribution to Plato into question.