Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed

Gerald A. Press

• Publisher: Continuum
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780826491763
• eBook ISBN: 9781441104861
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Philosophy

It is widely agreed that Plato laid the foundations for the whole history of western thought and, well over 2000 years later, his work is still studied by every student of philosophy. Yet his thought and writings continue to evoke perplexity in readers; and perplexity ( aporia ) is itself a characteristic of many of his writings, a recurrent motif of his thought, and apparently an important stage one must pass through along the path to wisdom that Plato presents. Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Plato's philosophy, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to the important and complex thought of this key philosopher. The book offers a detailed review of all the major dialogues and explores the particular perplexities of the dialogue form. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Plato's thought, the book also provides a cogent and reliable survey of the whole history of Platonic interpretation and his far-reaching influence. This is the ideal companion to the study of this most influential and challenging of philosophers.

PART I

BACKGROUND

CHAPTER I

PLATO’S LIFE AND WORKS

We are interested in the lives of famous political leaders, artists and authors in part because we think their life story will help us to understand their achievements better. There are dangers in this biographical orientation. One is that an individual’s achievements may be reduced to details of emotional life and that the role of creativity or originality may be ignored. Another danger is that, having already decided that an individual is important, the biography will be constructed out of unreliable (or made up) data so as to prove that the individual was always destined to be great. In extreme forms, this is hagiography. A third problem is what is sometimes called the intentional fallacy, the erroneous assumption that the meaning intended by the author of a text is the only or most important consideration when we try to interpret the text’s meaning. We may mistake what an author thought he was doing for the entire meaning or importance of what he did, ignoring outcomes the author did not intend or know about and interpretations by others.

PROBLEMS ABOUT PLATO’S BIOGRAPHY

The details of Plato’s life are for the most part mysterious. Six biographies survive from antiquity, but all are much later than Plato’s lifetime. Much of what they say cannot be confirmed by contemporary or independent evidence and some information given by one biography is inconsistent with that given by another. The most recent scholar to have sifted the evidence, Nails, agrees that modern biographies largely ‘mythologize’ Plato by depending ‘not so much on the original texts or their immediate context, but claims that grew up from them’ hundreds of years later. The ancient biographies and other ancient texts also include many anecdotes and portents about Plato – some positive, some negative – but the anecdotes cannot be verified and in many cases other evidence suggests that they are not historical. For example, it is a pleasant but unreliable story that he dreamed he was a swan, chased by all but never captured, and that he set out to be a poet but burned his plays when he met Socrates. Another problem is that several rather important aspects of the biography depend on the historical accuracy of a controversial letter that has come down to us in the ancient texts of Plato’s writings. See below, pp. 20–2, for a discussion of the Seventh Letter.

A PLATONIC BIOGRAPHY

About Plato’s life there is little incontrovertible evidence. He was probably born in 428 or 427 BCE, though one bit of information implies that he might have been born a few years earlier. His family was aristocratic, though his father, Ariston, was not particularly noteworthy or wealthy, and died soon after Plato’s birth. His mother, Perictione (or, perhaps, Potone), remarried a man named Pyrilampes. Plato’s given name was Aristocles; Plato (meaning ‘broad’) was a nickname that may have been given for his physique, his writing style, or the size of his forehead. He had two brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, and a sister, Potone, who were probably older. The brothers appear as characters in three of Plato’s dialogues. By her second marriage, Perictione had another son, Antiphon, who also appears as a character in one of Plato’s dialogues. The dominating person in the family was Critias, a cousin of his mother. Critias was brilliant, wealthy, intellectually inclined, to some extent a sophist, author of dramas, poetry and prose, and politically active. He is a character in two dialogues. After the end of the Peloponnesian War (431–404), he headed the vicious right–wing reaction, the Thirty Tyrants, and was killed in street rioting during 403, along with Plato’s uncle, Charmides, who is a character in several dialogues. Some evidence suggests lifelong tendencies to shyness, withdrawal and effeminacy, for which he was ridiculed by comic writers. He never married.

Plato would likely have had the education that was usual for upper–class boys of his time and place. This consisted first of poetry and music, both of these being understood as character–building rather than career preparation, and then gymnastics. Plato demonstrates an extensive knowledge of poetry and music in the dialogues.

About the age of 20, Plato became an associate of Socrates, though he may not have been one of the inner ‘Socratic circle’. Socrates, already in his sixties, was executed eight years later. So Plato’s connection with Socrates was not more than eight years and it was that of a young with a rather old man. Since, in addition, Socrates was not a teacher in any ordinary sense (see Chapter 2), it is misleading to think of Plato simply as his ‘student’. The protracted series of civil wars known as the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath occupied the years from Plato’s birth until Socrates’ death. So, it is clear that Plato’s youth was full of traumatic experiences. After Socrates’ execution, Plato seems to have left Athens and travelled for a while, first going to Megara and then, possibly, to Cyrene, Italy and Sicily.

Aristotle, who was a student in Plato’s Academy, tells us that Plato had some early association with the thought of Heraclitus or with contemporary Heracliteans, such as Cratylus in the dialogue named for him. Plato also seems well informed about some ‘extreme Heracliteans’ whose views are discussed in the Protagoras. Plato was unquestionably influenced by the Eleatic philosophers, Parmenides and Zeno, though he could not have known either of them personally, but he might have known Melissus of Samos, a younger student of Parmenides. It is also clear from the dialogues that Plato was acquainted with Pythagorean ideas and probably with some Pythagorean philosophers then living. Details on the ideas of these philosophers will be found in Chapter 2. He was well acquainted with the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the ideas, practices and achievements of sophists, soldiers, sailors, sculptors, painters, musicians, athletes and craftsmen of his time.

Most versions of Plato’s life include voyages to Sicily; a first about 389 or 388, a second in 366 or 365, and a third about 361–360 in which he is said to have been involved in several attempts to influence the course of political developments through instructing or advising rules. These voyages figure prominently in interpretations of Plato’s philosophy as evidence of his commitment to practical political change, of his changing political ideas, and also as evidence for proposed chronologies of his writings. Unfortunately, proof for these voyages that is independent of the Seventh Letter is extremely tenuous and the Seventh Letter, in turn, cannot indubitably be attributed to Plato himself.

THE ACADEMY

Although the date cannot be known with certainty, sometime after 387, perhaps following a trip to southern Italy and Sicily, Plato settled in a park called Akademeia and founded what has become known as the Academy.

As an institution, the Academy was not at all like modern schools, colleges or universities. It was not formally organized and was open to anyone who could participate and be self–supporting. There were no regular lectures, internal or external, nor seminars, nor public readings. A lecture by Plato called ‘On the Good’, reported by several ancient sources, was probably a unique occasion when Plato tried to make philosophy look over–difficult. During Plato’s lifetime, the Academy was not divided into levels and no definite doctrines were propounded. On the contrary, it was characterized by intellectual freedom and openness. In addition to their philosophic interests, some Academics were politically active as law–givers, advisors and emissaries for their home cities.

The Academy was not like a school or college in which students acquire knowledge from an instructor, teacher or master. The relationship among members is better indicated by the word that often occurs in Plato’s dialogues, synousia, which means ‘association’, ‘communion’, literally ‘being together’. It is an old word for the educational association of elder and younger. In other words, Plato did not act as an authoritative teacher; he seems inclined rather to make suggestions and guide people to thinking on their own. In doing this, he was actually developing the method of questioning (elenchos) and guiding a dialogue that Socrates had used into what Plato called ‘dialectic’. The primary activity of the Academy was this dialectic, conducted orally. Its aim from the start was the education and training of intellectuals to become ‘philosophers’ in Plato’s sense of the term. Plato’s idea of ‘philosophy’ will be discussed in Chapters 10–12.

AUTHORSHIP, AUDIENCE AND PUBLICATION

In the 380s, but possibly earlier, Plato began to write literary dialogues, dramatic interactions of the Ideal Philosopher (Socrates) with various serious and interesting opponents. Many others who had known Socrates were also writing Socratic conversations at the time.

Another way in which Plato’s Academy differed from modern expectations is that, later in Plato’s life, his associates in the Academy began to take part in the composition process by finishing a manuscript for reading at different occasions. During his old age (360–347), some dialogues were written by others in the Academy under Plato’s supervision in a specific Academic prose style (‘late style’) and some ‘Socratic’ dialogues were also written. These dialogues, although not written by Plato, accumulated among the written texts in the school and later, whether accidentally or deliberately, became associated with Plato’s name.

With the possible exception of the Apology and an early version of what later became the central books of the Republic, Plato never wrote for a general public. This is implied by the limited scope of both hostile gossip and sympathetic detailed knowledge of Plato’s ideas and writings outside of the Academy. It is also indicated by what we know about publication. Publication in antiquity meant the dissemination of handwritten copies. There is little evidence that copies of Plato’s dialogues existed outside of the Academy during his lifetime. This means that he did not ‘publish’, but that his writings were meant for use by those in the Academy. Unlike what modern readers usually expect, the Republic, for example, Plato’s most comprehensive work, took shape over a long period of time, and was probably not intended for widespread distribution. In fact, generally, it seems that the dialogues were not meant primarily to influence public opinion in Athens or elsewhere, as is indicated by the fact that fourth–century authors outside the Academy (including Xenophon, Isocrates and writers of Middle Comedy) do not seem to be well acquainted with them. The dialogues were certainly not ‘published’ in any sense that is similar to modern publication.

This has led to speculation about what their intended uses were, in light of the limited information we have. Many of the dialogues seem to be, at least in part, philosophic protreptics; that is, writings whose purpose was to turn the attention of the reader towards the practice of philosophy. Some dialogues, such as the Republic, are too long to have functioned in that way. Others, like the Parmenides or Sophist, seem too complicated and to require too much logical attention or skill to have functioned in that way. Such dialogues seem likely to have been written or intended as philosophical exercise books for students in the Academy. From another point of view, the dialogues may have served as exemplars of philosophical writing to be compared with the exemplary speeches or writings that were regularly produced by sophists such as Gorgias and speech–writers such as Isocrates. In a way, then, they might have served as advertisements for Plato’s Academy.

PLATO’S WRITINGS

Mysteriously, and unlike what is true for any other ancient author, we have every one of the texts mentioned in antiquity as having been written by Plato. This Corpus Platonicum consists of 46 dialogues and 13 letters handed down bearing Plato’s name. For the most part the Corpus Platonicum came together during Plato’s lifetime or shortly after. The letters were probably added at a later time. The letters pose special problems that will be discussed in the next section. The most important questions about the dialogues concern their authenticity and the possibility of revisions.

Authenticity

Doubts were raised about the authenticity of certain dialogues even in antiquity. Contemporary historical and philological scholarship has led to acceptance of 24–26 dialogues as ‘authentic’, meaning that they written by Plato. Of the others, some are considered ‘dubious’, meaning that there are doubts whether or not Plato wrote them; they are: Alcibiades (or Alcibiades I), Minos, Theages and Cleitophon. Still others are considered definitely ‘spurious’, meaning that they were written by someone other than Plato but published as being by Plato; these counterfeit Platonic dialogues are: Alcibiades II, Epinomis, Hipparchus, Rivals (or Lovers), Halcyon, Axiochus, Demodocus, Eryxias, Sisyphus, On Justice, On Virtue and Definitions.

Revision

A distinctively modern question, about revision, affects questions of authenticity. An ‘authentic’ dialogue is presumed to be one written by Plato rather than by anyone else and written and completed at roughly the same time rather than having been revised over a period of time. But there is ancient testimony that several introductions to the Republic and the Theaetetus existed besides the ones in the Corpus Platonicum. There is also evidence that Plato regularly revised and reworked dialogues, which would be consistent with the literary complexity and brilliance of most dialogues as we have them. The Republic, in particular, evolved over many years from a ‘proto–Republic’, a utopian social scheme consisting of the argument of the present books 2, 3 and 5.

There is also ancient evidence that members of the Academy revised some dialogues for publication. It would be nice to know exactly what this means. The Laws, for instance, seems to be essentially a creation of pupils, an outline of which the aged Plato might have approved. This would be consistent with the absence of Socrates as a character, of dramatic subtlety and literary brilliance, as well as with mistakes in syntax, repetitions, internal contradictions and the dialogue’s purely didactic tone. It would also be consistent with school accumulation, which characterizes the Lyceum and other ancient schools, meaning that writings by various authors in that school accumulate and over a period of years or centuries come to be associated with the name of the school’s founder.

Revision by Plato implies that the composition of particular dialogues cannot be assigned with certainty to any particular year or period. Revision by others within the Academy implies that some dialogues are semi–authentic, undermining attempts to distinguish doctrines that might be said to be Plato’s from those which could only be said to be Platonic.

Arrangements

Plato did not formally publish his dialogues, nor did he put them into any particular order or arrangement. Later in antiquity the dialogues were arranged in trilogies, by the Head of the Alexandrian Library, Aristophanes of Byzantium (c. 257–c. 180), and in tetralogies, groups of four, by Thrasyllus, an astrologer and mathematician of the first century BCE who seems to have grouped dialogues, in part, by whether they seemed to him to aim more at refutation of an interlocutor, inquiry into a problem, eliciting an interlocutor’s thinking, or demonstrating a point.

Several other ways of ordering have been used. Doctrinal or thematic arrangements, preferred by many modern scholars, follow the practice of ancient doxographers, such as Aristotle’s student Theophrastus (327–287) and Diogenes Laertius (third century CE), in reorganizing Plato’s writings according to what the doxographer takes to be the dialogues’ systematic doctrinal content.

The Academy itself, in late antiquity, utilized a pedagogical arrangement, an order in which to study the dial...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Perplexity, doubt and the quest for wisdom and happiness
• Part I: Background
• Part II: Sources of perplexity: Change
• Part III: Plato’s philosophy: Permanence
• Part IV: Help in reading and understanding Plato’s dialogues and philosophy
• Glossary of Greek terms
• Bibliography
• Index