Plato as a Philosophical Theologian

Abstract

THIS PAPER may be called more aptly a footnote on Platonic methodology, for it is hardly more than a brief procedural analysis of Plato's doctrine of the soul as it appears in the Phaedo. Within this restricted compass, however, the writer wishes to lay emphasis not on the aspects of the Platonic concept of the soul already overmuch described, but rather on Plato's use of the mythopoeic form at the end of his argumentative conversation concerning &vaLx -c,. Underlying this emphasis is the basic assumption of the Platonic appropriation of Orphic materials. Although the assumption is now a commonplace,' the theological significance of this religious incorporation may be seen from a new angle if we pose two questions in what light does Plato appropriate the received opinions, and what bearing do they have on his dialectic? Before these questions can be answered, however, it is necessary (i) to examine briefly the Platonic hypothesis by observing salient features of the soul which are inextricably connected with it, (2) to show that these implications, as well as the hypothesis, are refinements drawn from Orphic dogma and form the Platonic synthesis, and finally (3) to present the rationale of the philosophico-theological thesis.