Interpreting Plato's dialogues

151 Pages·2005·23.44 MB·English

by  Plato.

Interpreting
Plato's
Dialogues
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Interpreting
Plato's
Dialogues
J. Angelo Corlett
PARMENIDES
PUBLISHING
PARMENIDES PUBLISHING
Las Vegas 89109
© 2005 by Pannenides Publishing
All rights reserved
Published 2005
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN-13: 978-1-930972-02-5
ISBN-10: 1-930972-02-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Corlett, J. Angelo, 1958-
Interpreting Plato's dialogues j J. Angelo Corlett.--1st ed.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-930972-02-5 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-930972-02-4 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-930972-14-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-930972-14-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Plato. Dialogues. I. Title.
B395.C66 2005
184--dc22
2005024972
1-888-PARMENIDES
www. parmenides.com
for
Rudy and LaCerra
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Contents
Preface ix
1. Introduction: Approaching Plato's Dialogues 1
2. The Mouthpiece Interpretation 19
3. The Anti-Mouthpiece Interpretation 39
4. A Socratic Interpretation of the Concept
of Art as Mimesis 67
5. Conclusion: Appreciating Plato's Dialogues 95
Selected Bibliography 99
Index 135
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Preface
This book is the culmination of two decades of research on the intracta
ble problem of how to approach the writings of Plato (the "Platonic Ques
tion"), based on my earlier publications on this topic ("Interpreting Plato's
Dialogues/' The Classical Quarterly, 47 (1997), pp. 423-37, and "A Dialec
tical Interpretation of the Concept of Art as Mimesis in the Republic/' Idealis
tic Studies, 21 (1991), pp. 155-61) and in light of the increasing volume of
work done on this central problem in Plato studies. I am grateful to Ox
ford University Press for the use of a revised form of "Interpreting
Plato's Dialogues" as the bases of Chapters 2 and 3 of this book.
The main point of Interpreting Plato's Dialogues is to introduce
readers to the preliminary problems encountered in studying Plato's writ
ings, and to explore in depth and critically the various ways of approach
ing the Platonic corpus. In this way, this book is a prolegomenon to the
study of Plato's writings. Although it is addressed to experts in the fields
of ancient Greek philosophy and classics, it is simultaneously written
such that those who do not know the Greek language can easily follow
the line of argument throughout. Furthermore, no part of my main argu
ment is contingent for its plausibility on disputes that may arise among
scholars concerning the translation of some particular passage from
Plato's corpus of writings. In this way, then, the line of argument set
forth in this book is translationally neutral.
The problem of how to interpret Plato's dialogues dates as far
back as the Academy} and Plato's interpreters ought not to forego this
1 John Dillon, The Heirs of Plato (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); Harold Tar
rant, Plato's First Interpreters (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000).