Plato's Myth Research Articles

PLATO`S MYTHS

The article examines the question of Plato's concern with mythology. The author claims that Plato was an uncompromising critic of traditional myth and poetic myth-making, because such myths distorted the real images of the gods and their actions. Poetic myths do not reflect well on education, so their creators should, as Plato believed, be removed from a just state. The article draws attention to the fact that Plato himself was a significant mythmaker - he tells many important philosophical ideas precisely in the form of myths. The author analyzes the reasons for Plato's appeal to myth, defines the functions performed by myth in Plato's dialogues, the importance of Platonic myth-making for philosophy and mythology. It is noted that Plato uses myth as a tool of expressiveness, considers it as an effective means of persuasion. On the other hand, the article proves the thesis that the Platonic myth is a way to express the deep problems of existence that cannot be grasped by the human mind. Therefore, Plato's myths tell about what happens in the sky, under the Earth in Hades, in the distant past. The article concludes that a substantial reform of the entire ancient Greek mythology takes place in the Platonic myth-making activity. Plato combines myth with rational thinking, with the Logos. For Plato, a myth is a rationalized myth in which not only the cosmos acquires a divine dimension, but also man and his world, the polis. This is how the dialectician becomes a creator of myths. Plato, the article claims, becomes a mythmaker because it is extremely important for him to find a support for man in the human soul, as reliable and eternal as the divine cosmos of traditional myths used to serve.

Hesiodic Influence on Plato's Myth of the Cicadas

This paper argues that Hesiod's Myth of the Golden Race (Op. 109-126) influenced Plato's Myth of the Cicadas from the Phaedrus (258e-259d). Among other parallels, Hesiod's Golden Race and Plato's Cicadas have a similar diet and a similar rapport with the gods, they die in a similar way and enjoy similar benefits after death. The paper further argues that Plato used the inherent ambiguity of the Golden Age myths to draw attention to the ambiguity of the Cicadas themselves, who bring both benefits and rewards to humans, depending on their behavior.

Are Plato's Myths Philosophical?

AbstractPlato is often regarded as a founding figure for Western philosophy, and specifically as the inventor of a way of doing philosophy grounded in critical, argumentative reason. This article asks whether Plato's practice of writing myths in his dialogues comes into tension with his canonical reputation. I suggest that resolving this tension may require us to revise our standing ideas about the nature of philosophy and its relationship to myth. Against interpretations that minimize the significance of Plato's myths to his philosophy, I argue that he may have constructed them deliberately as a form of philosophical discourse in their own right.

«Другая земля». Орфический мотив небесного путешествия в античной философии

The motif of the journey is characteristic of Orphicism. Orpheus' journey on the Argo and his descending to Hades, the travel of souls to the afterlife and their celestial journey before their subsequent incarnation. These ideas are vividly represented in the Orphic hymns, the Orphic golden tablets and, perhaps most vividly, in Plato's myths in Phaedo, Phaedrus, Gorgias and the State. In trhe paper I consider these myths in the context of ancient philosophical literature, the task of which is to provide a coherent interpretation of the very fluid and not entirely unambiguous pictures that the great Athenian philosopher paints in his imagination. First of all, it concerns such questions as the corporeality or incorporeality of souls, the circumstances of their judgment and the conditions of their subsequent incarnation, details of the topography of the “other earth” and, finally, the discussion about the classes of souls, which were developed in subsequent Platonism.

Ephemeral climates: Plato's geographic myths and the phenomenological nature of climate and its changes

Historical and cultural approaches to climate generally consider climate to be a stabilising concept between weather and culture. Different historical and cultural concepts of climate signify different ways of learning to live with the weather. However, anthropogenic climate change evidences the limit of this approach: instead of stabilising, climates ephemeralise together with the ways we have come to adapt to them. Changing climates require a concept of climate that captures how climates are experienced both as stable and ephemeral. To create such a concept, I engage in an exercise of counterfactual etymology, reconstructing the concept of climate that might have emerged from the Ancient Greek term hora as opposed to klima. Central to my re-creation of phenomenological climate are Plato's myths, through which I highlight the methodological kinship between myth and phenomenology. Drawing on a later dialogue, Philebus, I provide an ontological account of climates as both stable and ephemeral. I conclude by situating my approach to climate and its changes in recent work on the relationship between weather and climate, arguing for the necessity of phenomenological climate in order to make sense of what changes with climate change. My turn to Ancient Greek philosophy and its application to the phenomenology of climate and its changes sounds out a novel approach to research in historical geography.

Plato and the Mythic Tradition in Political Thought

“Who died and made you king?” Many philosophers and followers of Plato will, without blinking, respond that Plato made them philosopher-kings. Some disciples of Plato acknowledge that this position can be embarrassing. Thus, we have texts like Jonny Thakkar's Plato as Critical Theorist, which struggles to justify philosophers as rulers by squeezing Plato's assertions under Lady Liberty's aegis, as if they had been part of her inclusive couture all along. Parallel projects to keep Plato as high priest include jettisoning the philosopher-king model while peddling the eminence of a Platonic process; say, the Socratic method. For example, Jill Frank in Poetic Justice reads the Republic (577a) as a repudiation of philosopher-kings in favor of people who want a little informed “conversation” with those “awakened to reflection.” The “awakened” seem to include gentle souls like Wayne Booth but not critics of Plato like Kojin Karatani, who denies that Plato and Socrates converse. In Transcritique, Karatani rejects the notion of Platonic “dialogues.” Karatani calls works like the Republic “dramatic monologues,” where Socrates gets to set up the rules for interaction, and woe awaits anyone who contradicts himself or Socrates.Tae-Yeoun Keum's book falls into the second category in Plato fandom. She is interested in process, in how Plato uses myths. That is the first portion of her work. The second portion lays out a history of great thinkers who modeled their political treatises on a myth-enriched Plato. She accomplishes her task in a thorough and unabrasive fashion. Keum's extraction and examination of myths from the Republic sometimes seem like teeth floating in water on a nightstand where an elderly scholar might also place spectacles; we obtain thereby a new perspective on the topic. Recognizing that myths “may be much more deeply entrenched in our way of life than we might think,” Keum balks at the interpretive tradition that insists Plato's is “a rational and critical enterprise divorced from myth.”As one of her guides for reconnecting Plato's myths to the Republic's aims, Keum turns to Hans Blumenberg, a key philosopher who argues that mythos and logos are synonyms. For Blumenberg myth counts as a response to a primal scene of terror. Myth is a rational response to questions that do not, at first, have answers. Keum: “Philosophy's reliance on mythological expressions revealed a deeper need to impart meaning to reality through narratives that are reworked, time and again, to frame the unfamiliar and inexplicable in terms of the familiar and significant.” Myths depend on topoi, commonplaces that feel comfortable. Keum is attuned to the role figuration plays in politics. Thus she is swimming against the scholarly tide that wants to rinse philosophy and politics clean of elements that seem to contribute to opacity or to irrationality. Keum advocates “an inclusive stance on what counts as philosophical writing,” so that Plato's myths remain part of the Platonic corpus. Her faith in pluralism might appear admirable—ill will is not a characteristic of Keum's book—but needs to be juxtaposed to some work off of Keum's radar. For example, it would be illuminating had Keum's lengthy consideration of Ernst Cassirer, including Cassirer's famous meeting with Martin Heidegger in Davos in 1929, been juxtaposed to Geoff Waite's reading of that meeting (see Political Theory, October 1998). With Waite in the picture, Keum could have leaned into Heidegger's statement: “The ‘doctrine’ of a thinker is what is unsaid in his saying.” Even after parsing Plato's myths with care, we are still not at the “doctrine.”

Who is my neighbor? The temptation of ethical distancing

AbstractIn this article, we examine twentieth century philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's understanding of the ethical subject and the import his ideas have for contemporary subjective and interpersonal life. Applying Levinas's insight that there is a tendency among human beings to not only neglect the needs of others but to build systems that justify that neglect—to create space and build walls in order to diminish the fact that we are always implicated, ever tied to the needs of others—we explore the social mechanisms that enable such ethical distancing. Ethical distancing, we argue, is the pernicious assumption that distance absolves us, that if only we shelter ourselves from others then we will remain impervious to their cries for help, immune to their need for our care. This assumption, we show, is behind much of our Western self‐understanding. Beginning with the picture of human subjectivity portrayed in Plato's myth of the ring of Gyges, we go on to show that the understanding of the isolated, self‐enclosed subject persists to this day.

Polyvalence of the Cave Paradigm: Iris Murdoch’s Reception

The article analyzes the literary and philosophical aspects of the Cave paradigm both in the context of Iris Murdoch’s fiction and her philosophical essays. The purpose of the article is to study the specifics of the Cave paradigm embodiment in the genrelogic structure of Murdoch’s philosophical novel. The multiple-aspect approach to the issue is proposed. In addition to the gnoseologic and gender aspects much attention is paid to the ethic-aesthetic structure component of Murdoch’s literary texts. Investigation of this paradigm in such view makes it possible to realize the resources of the author's style, emphasizing the connection between the author's ethics and the aesthetics of her fiction. In this case the proto-text is the famous Plato's myth about the Cave and the meta-text to reveal Murdoch's reception of this myth and interpretations in her novels are her own writings: “The Sovereignty of Good over other Concepts”, “The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists”, “Concepts of Unity. Art”. As for cognition, likewise Plato, Murdoch regards the idea of Good has a limit, and it is vaguely recognizable, but having recognized it, we come to the conclusion that it is precisely the cause of all that is the true and beautiful. Developing the metaphor of the sun, as the understanding of the Good, Murdoch finds it extremely rich. Unlike her theoretical and philosophical writings, in her novels Murdoch ironically plays with the Plato's myth. She considers the Cave as a “magic space”, “theatre space”, “sacred space”, “place of initiation” or a “place of illusions”. The author's interpretation of the Cave paradigm is unique, worthy of a true philosopher. It is revealed by means of the material (topos) and spiritual (logos) factors correlation.Overall, this is no longer a real topos, but the consciousness of her characters as such, with all its mazes, shadows, dark corners, unconscious queer illusions.

Comment lire « Au-delà du principe de Plaisir » ?

Comment lire « Au-delà du principe de Plaisir » ?

Plato's Myths. Edited by CatalinPartenie. Pp. xvi, 255, Cambridge University Press, 2009, £55.00.

The Heythrop JournalVolume 54, Issue 6 p. 1021-1022 BOOK REVIEW Plato's Myths. Edited by Catalin Partenie. Pp. xvi, 255, Cambridge University Press, 2009, £55.00. Robin Waterfield, Robin Waterfield Lakonia, GreeceSearch for more papers by this author Robin Waterfield, Robin Waterfield Lakonia, GreeceSearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 September 2013 https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.12043_2Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume54, Issue6November 2013Pages 1021-1022 RelatedInformation

Plato’s Myth of Atlantis, Mad Max, and the Schizophrenia of Progressive Thought - A Lesson in Natural Cycles and Story-Telling

Western political thought is forward-thinking and progressive. It has been so at least since Christianity rose to dominance, and arguably earlier. The emergence of secular modes of thought in the Enlightenment did not commence progressive thought in the western consciousness nor fundamentally alter the already progressive nature of western political philosophy; it did reshape the way western thinkers addressed the idea of progress. With a few notable dissenters (Machiavelli, Rousseau, MacIntyre), Christian theology and secular political thought is overwhelmingly progressive and linear in its view of the world in time. I do not think that position is either bold or interesting, it is merely the baseline for a broader statement about the contemporary mindset of the west. Contemporary political thought, and even politics, is increasingly schizophrenic. Reading the rhetoric of contemporary politics (climate change, the debt crisis, unemployment and inflation), one finds the progress we are sure to achieve in time is increasingly juxtaposed with catastrophic consequences for failure to achieve the progress that is our veritable birthright. How can society stand on this sheer precipice of either bountiful success or total calamity? Why would a progressive mindset reach such a bifurcated vision of the future? How can a person maintain sanity while foreseeing such an either/or utopia/dystopia in the future? I argue that the western progressive consciousness is wrong. There is no guarantee of continuous progress, generation after generation, in this world. Believing whole-heartedly in progress, but simultaneously facing with the reality of decline, decay, and degeneration, the western mind is undone at the prospect of human catastrophe and natural cataclysm. The imminent collapse of civilization is causing schizophrenia in political discourse and consciousness. Reading Plato's myth of Atlantis and watching the Mad Max trilogy are the first steps in releasing the tension that has caused contemporary schizophrenia and disabusing ourselves of a false conception of progress.

Plato's Myths. Edited by Catalin Partenie

Plato's Myths. Edited by Catalin Partenie

Plato's myths

List of illustrations List of contributors Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction Catalin Partenie 1. Plato's eschatological myths Michael Inwood 2. Myth, punishment and politics in the Gorgias David Sedley 3. Tale, theology and teleology in the Phaedo Gabor Betegh 4. Fraternite, inegalite, la parole de Dieu: Plato's authoritarian myth of political legitimation Malcolm Schofield 5. Glaucon's reward, philosophy's debt: the myth of Er G. R. F. Ferrari 6. The charioteer and his horses: an example of Platonic myth-making Christopher Rowe 7. The myth of the Statesman Charles H. Kahn 8. Eikos muthos M. F. Burnyeat 9. Myth and eschatology in the Laws Richard Stalley 10. Platonic myth in Renaissance iconography Elizabeth McGrath Suggested further reading Bibliography Index.

The Geography of Finitude

Plato's use of afterlife myths is often viewed as an abandonment of rational discourse for a coercive practice designed to persuade citizens to be concerned about the condition of their souls by appealing to their worst fears about the afterlife. But such interpretations overlook the frequently critical tenor of Plato's myths. In this paper I develop the claim that Plato appeals to muthos as a means of critiquing various specific logoi by focusing upon the relationship between the myth of the earth in the Phaedo and the four logoi about immortality that precede it. I argue that these logoi fail to be persuasive because they rely upon a construal of the relationship between body and soul that denies them meaningful reference to the lives and deaths of embodied beings. The myth of the earth provides a critical engagement with the perspective from which Socrates and his interlocutors have produced these logoi.

Three Interpretations of the Myth of Genesis in Plato's <i>Timaeus</i>

Plato narrated the myth about the genesis of the universe in the dialogue Timaeus. It was interpreted in various ways by the people after him. Here we will examine the interpretations by Aristotle, Plotinus and Augustine, as the representatives of it. In this respect, first of all, we have to consider the Plato's myth itself and some problems which it involves.1. The myth of Timaeus and the problems it involves.2. The interpretation by Aristotle.3. The interpretation by Plotinus.4. The interpretation by Augustine.Finally, we would like to find out the meaning of these three interpretations in the history of the European metaphysics.

Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition.

Empedocles played a crucial role in the development of western culture; yet little is known or understood about this man, who lived in Sicily in the fifth-century BC. This is mainly becuase his teaching has been reconstructed by modern shcolars first and formost on the basis of Aristotle's hostile reports - producing a picture which is disconnected and lacking in depth. Using material never exploited before, Peter Kingsley presents the first full-scale study of Empedocles to situate his fragmentary writings in their original context of philosophy as a way of life, mystery religion and magic, and of the struggle to realize one's own divinity. This study also explores fresh evidence which proves Empedocles was not an isolated figure and reveals new links between his work and ancient Pythagoreanism. The process of establishing these links now makes it possible to demonstrate, in detail, the Pythagorean origin of Plato's myths. Kingsley re-examines problems regarding the connections between ancient magic, science, and religion. More specifically, he traces for the first time a line of transmission from Empedocles and the early Pythagoreans down to southern Egypt, and from there into the world of Islam. 'highly polemical new book...The thesis is argued with immense learning.' Times Higher Education Supplement

Constructing a Hall of Reflection

Tom Phillips' painting for the dustjacket of the hardback edition of Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals depicts a faintly translucent, darkly-coloured, multi-layered lattice of letters, in which each character abuts directly upon others above, below and beside it, each overwrites or is overwritten by others of varying dimensions, but none is immediately decipherable as part of a word; and at the centre of this array is a geometrically precise, illuminated circle—perhaps emanating from a light located behind or under the layers of letters, perhaps from one directed at them from above. This image is open to many interpretations. It could represent the sun from Plato's myth of the cave shining through the dialogue in which he presents it (a myth that irradiates Iris Murdoch's text); it could also represent the light of Miss Murdoch's attention playing over the palimpsest of texts that make up the Western tradition of metaphysical thought. But for anyone encountering it upon closing the book after a first reading, it may also seem very precisely to crystallize one's initial impression of that text.

A lost continent in a temperate Arctic

Thoughts of Plato's myth of the lost continent Atlantis are stimulated by new evidence from deep sea cores through a submerged microcontinent in the northernmost North Atlantic. Dark conifer forests with low-lying ferns grew there in quiet, windless, low-energy regimes through the Oligocene and Miocene and stayed much the same for millions of years, from 33 to 10 Ma, at palaeolatitudes of some 8° to 10° beyond the Arctic Circle. The weather was unlike any today, with Arctic light regimes in a cool temperate climate. The biosystem was highly productive, despite the low energy of this consistently mysterious and gloomy place.

Dans la caverne de Platon. Heidegger, Derrida

Heidegger in Platons Lehre von der Wahrheit and Derrida through an essay on Mallarmé, La double séance, have pursued the unsaid in Plato's myth of the cave. But the unsaid takes different shapes in Plato, through its shape in Derrida or Heidegger. Heidegger pinpoints an unexplicit change in the notion of truth, an unsaid he does not say but remembers in its consequences for Western metaphysics ; Derrida develops irony without transcending it through a hidden meaning.

Women and the Ideal Society: Plato's Republic and Modern Myths of Gender. By Natalie Harris Bluestone. Amherst, MA: University of Mass. Press, 1987. 238p. $25.00 cloth, $11.95 paper. - Women in Political Theory: From Ancient Misogyny to Contemporary Feminism. By Diana H. Coole. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1988. 324p. $32.00 cloth, $14.95 paper.

Women and the Ideal Society: Plato's Republic and Modern Myths of Gender. By Natalie Harris Bluestone. Amherst, MA: University of Mass. Press, 1987. 238p. $25.00 cloth, $11.95 paper. - Women in Political Theory: From Ancient Misogyny to Contemporary Feminism. By Diana H. Coole. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1988. 324p. $32.00 cloth, $14.95 paper.