Abstract

The Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos (11th century) wrote a brief treatise entitled An Explanation of the Drive of the Soul Chariot and the Army of Gods According to Plato in the Phaedrus. The treatise consists of a compilation of excerpts from Hermias’ commentary on the Phae­drus. Psellos does not mention Hermias’ name but rather traces the origins of the treatise back to some “Greek theologians”. Psellos’ text presents a great interpretative challenge: the order of the myths about the charioteer and the parade of gods is reversed so that the former explicates the latter in such a way that the whole Platonic argument is dismissed as “absurd”. The Phaedrus in the Neo ‑Platonic tradition (in Iamblichus in particular) is considered to be a strictly theological dialogue. Yet, Psellos’ arrangement shows that he was not interested in the mythographical or allegorical dimension of the excerpts. He rath­er focused on the epistemic problem, i.e., a reduction of the trichotomy of the soul into a duality of principles. Thus, he followed certain Aristo­telian commentators. Psellos suggests a reduction that is subjectivist or individualist in its nature and he refuses to identify individual intellect with any particular piety.

Highlights

  • The Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos (11th century) wrote a brief treatise entitled An Explanation of the Drive of the Soul Chariot and the Army of Gods According to Plato in the Phaedrus

  • La raison de cette inversion est que les passages choisis du mythe de l’attelage sont mis par Psellos à la deuxième partie du traité, dans le but de faire comprendre les apories philosophiques produites par le mythe de la procession de la première partie; des apories qui, on doit remarquer, ont à voir avec la nature de l’âme

  • Le traité de Psel‐ los fait partie d’une idéologie bien enracinée chez un Byzantin: son traité est, donc, un «montage signifiant» qui adapte le paradigme cosmologique d’antan à une anthropologie pieuse au sens byzantin du terme, c’est­‐‍ à­‐‍ dire une attitude sociale et une posture intel‐ lectuelle construites sur la conscience des limites

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Summary

Introduction

The Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos (11th century) wrote a brief treatise entitled An Explanation of the Drive of the Soul Chariot and the Army of Gods According to Plato in the Phaedrus. La différence est due au fait que les doctrines théologiques mentionnées sont caractérisées comme «absurdes» par Psellos dans sa conclusion sur les passages du Phèdre commentés.

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