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La ciencia en sí misma y la ciencia en nosotros: en torno al rol de la epistḗmē en el Fedro
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) García, Gabriel
The view of the τόπος ὑπερουράνιος in the Phaedrus is described according to three contents: justice (δικαιοσύνη), soundness (σωφροσύνη) and science (ἐπιστήμη). Only the latter is specified (247d6-e2). In „‘Der Geistcharakter des Überhimmlischen Raumes‘. Zur Korrektur der herrschenden Auffassung von Phaidros 247c-e”, W. Schwabe argued that this passage necessarily distinguishes the science “in what is” from the science “in what we now call beings”, and that the latter refers to science as a human practice of acquiring and transmitting knowledge. After reviewing his main arguments, I will examine this distinction in the whole dialogue, especially regarding the science “in what we now call beings”, in two moments: 1) the accurate description of the vision of science as memory, μνήμη, when the soul returns to the sensible realm, as well as its recovery in the erotic relation (both themes of the palinode) and 2) the relation between memory and science in the transmission of knowledge, in the critique of writing. The identification of science with the “immortal seed” contained in the dialectician’s speeches (276 e5-277 a4) will be linked to the analysis of procreation in beauty in the Symposion, showing that the ἐπιστήμη as content of the λόγοι expresses the dynamic relation between ideas. Therefore, the difference between “science in itself” and “science in us” must be conceived as a “structural feature” of the eidetic realm, in the same way as justice in the Republic (500c3-4) and, presumably, soundness.
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El comercio según Platón: ¿factor de división o de comunidad política?
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Helmer, Etienne
“Commerce according to Plato: a factor of division or political community?”. It is often thought that the Greek philosophers despise both wholesale trade between cities as retail trade within cities. According to this lengthy interpretive tradition, Plato conforms on this matter to Homeric and Hesiodic poetry: commerce has a reputation as a trade associated with dishonesty and profit-seeking, for which it is believed to promote more division and conflict than harmony and social cohesion. However, a careful reading of some passages in Plato’s Dialogues, and particularly of the Republic, reveals another aspect of his approach to commerce and its influence on the cohesion of the polis. Trying to highlight an aspect that is usually ignored by most interpreters, this paper argues that Plato sees in commerce itself a factor allowing the formation and maintenance of the community of the polis. This approach is based on Plato’s conviction that the political character of the human being is forged through multiple exchanges, among which trade plays a fundamental role.
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Common Ground or Double Bind? The Possibility of Dialogue in Plato’s Crito
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Feldman, Sarah
Much recent scholarship on Plato’ Crito has revolved around the controversy about the relationship and possible compatibility between the arguments Socrates gives in his own person (SocratesS) and those he gives in the person of the Laws (SocratesL). By contrast, the relation between the arguments given by SocratesL and those given by Crito continues to be seen as uncontroversial: by the end of the dialogue, commentators agree, Crito has no choice but to concede to the force of SocratesL’s arguments. Against this traditional reading, this paper will argue not only that SocratesL’s arguments fail to secure Crito’s agreement, but also that two characters’ attempts to communicate end at an impasse that seems to leave little room for meaningful shared discourse –and may even undermine Crito’s belief in the possibility of meaningful speech. My interpretation is informed by Socrates’ account (at 49c9-e3) of the need for and nature of a “common ground” as a requisite for genuine dialogue. This passage, I argue, challenges the traditional analysis of Crito as the representative of a particular value system or a particular “type”, demanding, instead, a consideration of the effect of Socrates’ arguments upon Crito in light of a more robust view of the latter’s perspective. Such a reconsideration has consequences not only for our appreciation of the dramatic structure of the dialogue, but also for how we understand one of the dialogue’s central, if underexplored, themes: the belief in a shared logos and the psychagogic necessity and perils of testing that belief.
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Communication and Kinship. On “Koinōnia” and “Syngeneia” in Plato’s Dialogues
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Delle Donne, Carlo
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the multiple functions of the notion of koinōnia in Plato’s dialogues. Koinōnia and its absence characterize reality as a whole: both the intelligible and the sensible entities either “communicate” or do not “communicate” (koinōnein); therefore, reconstructing the net of koinōnia-relationships amounts to putting dialectics into practice. So far so good. But an analysis which aims at clarifying the role played by koinōnia cannot but take also syngeneia into account. The reason for this fact lies in the essential link which binds koinōnia and syngeneia, with the latter being the condition of possibility of the former.
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Koinōnia and the Psychology of Possession
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Konrádová, Veronika
This paper addresses the concept of koinōnia discussed in Plato’s Republic. It focuses on the specific ways the term enters the discussion about social organisation within the guardian class, such as the proposal for abolishing a nuclear family in favour of the community of wives and children. The paper aims to reveal the psychological basis connecting Plato’s socio-economic proposals to his principal ethical and political concerns. It examines (i) the argument supporting the proposals of the social organisation of the guardians, (ii) the psychological background of these proposals, (iii) the socio-cultural context against which these proposals are defined and (iv) the position of these considerations in the broader scheme of Plato’s thought.
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Koinōnia in the Symposium: from community to communion?
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Lenner, Zdenek
Plato’s Symposium stages a playful subversion of paiderastia by philosophia through successive interconnected speeches. Phaedrus and Agathon praise Erōs as a god presiding over homoerotic relationships, be it at war or at peace. Pausanias and Eryximachus distinguish between two Erōtes, being eager to supervise these paiderastic communities or even the cosmic harmony. But Aristophanes subverts their perspective by introducing the Androgyne, a combination of male and female, which being displayed by Socrates-Diotima will finally give birth to the Erōs-Daimōn. Only he ensures us real human community by enabling true communion with the divine, witness Alcibiades’ final praise of Socrates.
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Koinōnía y Justicia. De la República al Parménides
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Gutiérrez, Raúl
The main reason why the developmental interpretation of the platonic Parmenides believes this dialogue constitutes a crisis in the development of Plato’s thought is the idea that the philosopher criticizes therein its Theory of Ideas of the middle period – Phaedo, Symposium, Republic. The theory supposedly criticized would conceive the Ideas as absolutely simple and isolated unities that, as such, would make impossible the fulfilment of their own function. This would only be possible by a new relational conception of the Ideas introduced in Parmenides and developed in Sophist. In contrast to some scholars who do not even mention certain passages in those dialogues (e.g. Cordero, 2014, 2016), I will show 1) that the notion of koinōnia is essential to the project of the Republic, since its central idea, the notion of justice, is unthinkable without the notion of koinōnia of the Ideas with each other; and 2) that Parmenides makes use of this notion of justice (150a) precisely in relation to the eidetical koinōnia (143a-b) and to the Idea conceived as a whole (ὅλον) “which has come to be one complete/perfect thing out of all its parts – ἐξ ἁπάντων ἓν τέλειον γεγονός” (157e1, ἓν ἐκ πολλῶν, 157c6, ἓν τέλειον μόρια ἔχον, 157e4).
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Plato on the Mechanics of Koinōnia Formation
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Stephanides, Stephanos
This paper argues that, in order to understand the unified relations that are commonly predicated of koinōnia in the ethical, political, and cosmological spheres respectively, one must first appreciate certain prerequisite “principles” or “rules” that are necessary for koinōnia formation. One principle which has been for long the subject of intense discussion in Platonic scholarship is proportionality. However, rather than stopping short at the unproblematically straightforward point of connection between proportionality —in the broadest possible sense— and well-ordered wholes, I suggest that we can get a much richer account from Plato’s preoccupation with proportionality and koinōnia formation by exploring the different proportional models he puts to work in different contexts. It will be argued that for Plato geometrical proportionality in particular is the binding principle par excellence for koinōnia formation as it is the fairest model of order and enables the most enduring complex wholes. Approaching the point from this angle may yet provide a further significant way of understanding the undeniably obvious political differences between the Republic and the Laws in terms of koinōnia formation.
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Presentación. Areté Vol. 34 (2022). Número extraordinario
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Gutiérrez, Raúl
No presenta resumen
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Psicología, política y poesía en República IV y X
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Soares, Lucas
In this paper, I argue that in the Republic the possibility of a good koinōnia is hindered by the emotional potency and psychological perversion of mimetic-pleasurable poetry, which stimulates and strengthens the irrational part of the soul of its recipients through the imitation of characters linked to desire and anger. To this end, I examine, first, some of the passages in Republic IV in which it is possible to subscribe to the priority of the psychic tripartition over the political tripartition. Secondly, I point out some of the central features of the psychological critique of mimetic-pleasurable poetry in Republic X.
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The Koinon Agathon of Plato’s Charmides
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Pichanick, Alan
Given the number of references to koinōnia in Plato’s dialogues, it is striking that the phrase “common good” (koinon agathon) is used only once – at Charmides 166d. Socrates asks his interlocutor Critias a question, “Do you not think it is for the common good, almost (schedon), of all men, that how all the beings (tōn ontōn) are should be discovered?” The question emerges after Critias has claimed that sōphrosynē is self-knowledge, which he then specifies as a “knowledge of all other knowledges and of itself”. In this paper, I argue that it is no accident that Socrates mentions the “common good” at precisely this moment in his discussion with Critias. The notion of sōphrosynē that Critias defends is incoherent owing to what Critias claims to be its distinguishing feature – its reflexivity. Because of its total reflexivity, it points to no end beyond itself and thereby it is neither capable of disclosing “the beings” nor of being connected to any good outside of itself. The common good Socrates mentions here is therefore essentially related to an acknowledgment of ignorance that motivates one to wonder (thauma) at a good beyond one’s love of one’s own things. I thus suggest an explanation for the curious addition of “almost” (schedon) in Socrates’ remark here: Critias himself shows that unless he (or his young cousin Charmides) can admit ignorance and experience such wonder, then he is constitutionally not included in this common good.
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The Koinōnia of Non-Being and Logos in the Sophist Account of Falsehood
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Wiitala, Michael
At Sophist 260e3-261a2, the Eleatic Stranger claims that in order to demonstrate that falsehood is, he and Theaetetus must first track down what speech (logos), opinion (doxa), and appearance (phantasia) are, and then observe the communion (koinōnia) that speech, opinion, and appearance have with non-being. The Stranger, however, never explicitly discusses the communion of speech, opinion, and appearance with non-being. Yet presumably their communion is implicit in his account of falsehood, given his claim that observing that communion is needed in order to demonstrate that falsehood is (260e5-a2). This essay seeks to make the communion that speech has with non-being explicit. I argue that speech has communion with non-being in that the things and actions speech combines together by means of nouns and verbs need not be combined in a way that reveals (δηλοῖ) how the being a given speech is about combines ontologically with other beings.
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The Women’s Law (tou gynaikeiou nomos) in the Kallipolis of Plato’s Republic
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Cornelli, Gabriele; Maia, Rosane
The Women’s Law discussed in book V of the Republic, known as the first wave, is a notorious example of Socrates’ reformist intention to achieve justice in the polis. The legislation for women, in general, has historically been relegated by the Republic interpreters. This paper aims to analyze this passage, from 449a to 457c, through the arguments provided by Socrates seen as crucial to conceive equality between the sexes (under the ontological foundation of the same human nature) as well as to favor institutional change according to nature, kata physin, thus opening the possibility for women to govern the polis. Before leaving for the external confrontation, Socrates considers it urgent that his interlocutors, Adeimantus, Glaucon, and Polemarchus, agree with each other. Thus, he urges them to start the argument by questioning the human nature of women and their capacity for the same functions (erga) performed by men in the city. The examination of the intelligible enabled the logos on women’s intellectual capacity to support adequate legislation. Such nomos put into practice proves to be the best for the city and its guardians. To that extent, Socrates can conclude the investigation with a consensus on what to do and willingness to confront opposing opinions in the city urgently.
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Three Aspects of the Linguistic Communion (Koinōnia) in Plato’s Sophist: Articulation of Letters, Predication of Names and Accord (Homologia) of Logoi
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Departamento de Humanidades, 2022-03-28) Karagöz, Taha
In the Sophist, Plato presents the possibility of the separation of things in relation to each other based on the communion (koinōnia) of logos. In this study, I discuss the linguistic communion revealed in the dialogue by illuminating its three fundamental aspects: (1) Articulation of letters in names as communion on the syntactic level, (2) Predication of names in logoi as communion on the semantic level, (3) Homologoi of logoi as the ultimate communion of language. I thus conclude that these three linguistic aspects are interdependent.