Platon
Pour Platon, le monde visible n’est qu’une copie d’Idées éternelles et parfaites que seule la raison peut saisir – et les connaître rend les personnes et les cités justes.
Repères
Fondateur de l’Académie : le monde visible est une copie des Idées éternelles. Whitehead qualifiait la philosophie européenne de « série de notes en bas de page à Platon ».
Idées clés
- Théorie des Idées
- Allégorie de la caverne
- Rois-philosophes
- Anamnèse (apprendre, c’est se ressouvenir)
Maîtres: Socrate
Élèves: Aristote
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Influence
Influences reçues de 4
Pythagore
influencé par ✓
According to Aristotle, Plato followed the Pythagoreans in most things, recasting their imitation of numbers as participation in Forms; the Timaeus builds the cosmos from mathematical proportions. Aristotle, Metaphysics I.6, 987a29–b14; Plato, Timaeus 31b–36d; SEP “Pythagoreanism”
Pythagore › selon la tradition v. 570–495 av. J.-C.
Héraclite
influencé par ✓
According to Aristotle, Plato accepted from Heraclitus, through Cratylus, that sensible things are always in flux and cannot be known, and so posited unchanging Forms (Metaphysics I.6). Aristotle, Metaphysics I.6, 987a32–b7; Plato, Cratylus 402a; SEP “Heraclitus”
Héraclite › v. 535–475 av. J.-C.
Parménide
influencé par ✓
Plato took over Parmenides’ contrast between unchanging being, grasped by thought, and opinion about what changes, and in the Sophist revised his ban on not-being (241d). Plato, Republic V, 476d–480a; Sophist 241d–259d; SEP “Parmenides”
Parménide › v. 515–450 av. J.-C.
Socrate élève de
élève de ✓
Attested by Plato himself (Apology 34a, 38b; Phaedo 59b) and by Xenophon (Memorabilia 3.6.1); Socrates himself denied being anyone’s teacher (Apology 33a). Plato, Apology 33a, 34a, 38b; Phaedo 59b; Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.6.1
Socrate › 470–399 av. J.-C.
A influencé 45
Augustin d’Hippone
a influencé ✓
Augustine knew Plato mainly through the ‘books of the Platonists’ and ranked them closest to Christianity for their incorporeal God (Confessions VII; City of God VIII). Augustine, Confessions VII.9.13–10.16; City of God VIII.4–10; SEP “Augustine”
Augustin d’Hippone › 354–430
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
a influencé ✓
Leibniz paraphrased Plato’s Phaedo and Theaetetus (1676) and, defending innate ideas against Locke, called his own system closer to Plato’s (New Essays, written 1704). G. W. Leibniz, paraphrases of Phaedo and Theaetetus (Paris, 1676; Akademie-Ausgabe VI.3); Nouveaux essais sur l’entendement humain (written 1704, publ. 1765), preface
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
a influencé ✓
Hegel read Plato’s Parmenides and Sophist as the beginning of speculative dialectic and, in the Philosophy of Right (1820), the Republic as an interpretation of Greek ethical life. G. W. F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (1820), Preface; Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie (1833); SEP “Hegel”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
John Stuart Mill
a influencé
Mill translated several of Plato’s dialogues (1834–35) and called the Socratic method of the dialogues unsurpassed as a discipline for correcting errors (Autobiography, 1873). J. S. Mill, Autobiography (1873), ch. 1; translations of Platonic dialogues in the Monthly Repository (1834–35)
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
John Stuart Mill › 1806–1873
Søren Kierkegaard
a influencé
Kierkegaard read Plato’s dialogues for Socrates’ irony (On the Concept of Irony, 1841) and set Platonic recollection against the Christian moment (Philosophical Fragments, 1844). S. Kierkegaard, Om Begrebet Ironi (1841); Philosophiske Smuler (1844)
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Søren Kierkegaard › 1813–1855
Bertrand Russell
a influencé
Russell defended universals that subsist independently of minds, calling Plato’s theory of ideas one of the most successful attempts at the problem (The Problems of Philosophy, 1912). B. Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (1912), ch. 9 (“The World of Universals”)
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Bertrand Russell › 1872–1970
Tout afficher (45)Afficher moins
Arcésilas de Pitane
a influencé
Arcesilaus presented his scepticism as a return to the questioning Plato of the dialogues, arguing against every view so that equal reasons lead to suspending assent. Cicero, Academica I.44–46; De oratore III.67; SEP “Arcesilaus”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Arcésilas de Pitane › v. 316–241 av. J.-C.
Cicéron
a influencé
Cicero modelled On the Republic and On the Laws on Plato’s Republic and Laws, ending the first with the Dream of Scipio, and translated part of the Timaeus. Cicero, De re publica VI (Somnium Scipionis); De legibus; Timaeus (translation fragment); SEP “Cicero”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Cicéron › 106–43 av. J.-C.
Philon d’Alexandrie
a influencé
Philo read Genesis through Plato’s Timaeus: God makes the world after an intelligible model, the ideas in the divine Logos (De opificio mundi). Philo, De opificio mundi 16–25; D. T. Runia, Philo of Alexandria and the Timaeus of Plato (1986); IEP “Philo of Alexandria”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Philon d’Alexandrie › v. 20 av. J.-C. – 50 apr. J.-C.
Origène
a influencé
Porphyry reports that Origen was always reading Plato; On First Principles takes up Platonic themes such as God’s incorporeality and the soul’s ascent (Eusebius, Church History VI.19). Eusebius, Church History VI.19 (Porphyry, Against the Christians); Origen, On First Principles I.1; IEP “Origen of Alexandria”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Origène › v. 185–253
Porphyre de Tyr
a influencé
Porphyry commented on Plato’s Timaeus and other dialogues and argued for the harmony of Plato and Aristotle, shaping how later Platonists and Boethius read Plato. Porphyry, In Timaeum (fragments, ed. A. R. Sodano, 1964); SEP “Porphyry”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Porphyre de Tyr › v. 234–305
Hypatie
a influencé ✓
Hypatia taught Plato and Aristotle in Alexandria; the church historian Socrates says she headed the Platonist school descending from Plotinus (Ecclesiastical History VII.15). Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History VII.15; Synesius, Letters; E. J. Watts, Hypatia (2017)
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Hypatie › v. 355–415
Proclus
a influencé ✓
Proclus systematised Plato as theology in the Platonic Theology and, as head of the Athenian school, commented on the Timaeus, Republic, Parmenides and First Alcibiades. Proclus, Platonic Theology; In Timaeum; In Rempublicam; In Parmenidem; In Alcibiadem; SEP “Proclus”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Proclus › 412–485
Boèce
a influencé ✓
Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524) summarises Plato’s Timaeus in the hymn ‘O qui perpetua’ and takes up recollection and the ascent to the Good. Boethius, Consolatio philosophiae III m. 9, III m. 11; SEP “Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius”
Boèce › v. 477–524
Jean Philopon
a influencé
In Against Proclus (529) Philoponus argued that the world has a beginning and claimed Plato’s Timaeus for this reading against the Neoplatonists’ eternal world. Philoponus, De aeternitate mundi contra Proclum (529); SEP “John Philoponus”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Jean Philopon › v. 490–570
Rhazès
a influencé
Al-Razi built his doctrine of five eternal principles – Creator, Soul, matter, absolute time and absolute place – largely on Plato’s Timaeus. P. Adamson, Al-Razi (2021)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Rhazès › v. 865–925
Al-Fârâbî
a influencé ✓
Al-Farabi modelled his virtuous city, ruled by a philosopher who is also prophet and lawgiver, on Plato’s Republic and summarised the dialogues in The Philosophy of Plato. al-Farabi, Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al-fadila, ed. R. Walzer (1985); The Philosophy of Plato, tr. M. Mahdi (1962); SEP “al-Farabi”
Al-Fârâbî › v. 872–950
Averroès
a influencé ✓
Lacking Aristotle’s Politics, Averroes commented on Plato’s Republic (c. 1194), applying its account of degenerating regimes to the states of his own time. Averroes, Commentary on Plato’s Republic, tr. R. Lerner, Averroes on Plato’s Republic (1974); SEP “Ibn Rushd [Averroes]”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Averroès › 1126–1198
Sohrawardi
a influencé
Suhrawardi called Plato the leader of wisdom and identified the Platonic Forms with the lights that govern each species (Philosophy of Illumination, 1186). Suhrawardi, Hikmat al-ishraq (1186), tr. J. Walbridge & H. Ziai (1999); SEP “Suhrawardi”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Sohrawardi › 1154–1191
Gersonide
a influencé
Gersonides argued that the world was created from a formless body rather than from nothing, a view he aligned with Plato’s Timaeus (The Wars of the Lord, 1329). Gersonides, Milhamot ha-Shem (1329); SEP “Gersonides”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Gersonide › 1288–1344
Georges Gémiste Pléthon
a influencé
In On the Differences (1439) Plethon defended Plato’s Forms and his God as creator against Aristotle, and named his Laws after Plato’s. G. Gemistos Plethon, De differentiis (1439); Nomoi; SEP “Byzantine Philosophy”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Georges Gémiste Pléthon › v. 1355–1452
Nicolas de Cues
a influencé
Cusanus read Plato largely through Proclus’ commentary on the Parmenides and took up Platonic participation for the relation of the many to the One (De non aliud, 1462). Nicholas of Cusa, De beryllo (1458); De non aliud (1462); SEP “Nicholas of Cusa”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Nicolas de Cues › 1401–1464
Marsile Ficin
a influencé
Ficino made the first complete Latin translation of Plato (printed 1484) and joined Platonism with Christian doctrine in his Platonic Theology (1482). M. Ficino, Platonis opera omnia (Florence, 1484); Theologia Platonica (1482); SEP “Marsilio Ficino”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Marsile Ficin › 1433–1499
Jean Pic de la Mirandole
a influencé
Pico expounded Plato’s doctrine of love from the Symposium in his Commento (1486) and defended the concord of Plato and Aristotle in De ente et uno (1491). G. Pico della Mirandola, Commento sopra una canzone d’amore (1486); De ente et uno (1491); SEP “Giovanni Pico della Mirandola”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Jean Pic de la Mirandole › 1463–1494
Érasme
a influencé
Erasmus took up the image of Socrates as a Silenus, ugly outside and divine within, from Plato’s Symposium for his adage ‘Sileni Alcibiadis’ (1515). Erasmus, Adagia III.iii.1 ‘Sileni Alcibiadis’ (1515); Plato, Symposium 215a–b; SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Érasme › v. 1466–1536
Galilée
a influencé
Galileo’s Dialogo (1632) alludes to Plato’s doctrine of recollection; Koyré read his mathematical physics as Platonism, a thesis many historians qualify (‘Galileo and Plato’, 1943). Galileo, Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (1632); A. Koyré, “Galileo and Plato”, Journal of the History of Ideas 4 (1943); SEP “Galileo Galilei”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Galilée › 1564–1642
Tommaso Campanella
a influencé
Campanella drew on Plato’s Republic for The City of the Sun (written 1602), a community without private property, and defended Platonic community of goods (1623). T. Campanella, La città del Sole (written 1602); Quaestiones … de optima republica (1623); SEP “Tommaso Campanella”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Tommaso Campanella › 1568–1639
Anne Conway
a influencé
Conway knew Plato’s legacy chiefly through Henry More and the Cambridge Platonists; her Principles (1690) take up a Platonist scale of beings through which creatures rise toward perfection. A. Conway, Principia philosophiae antiquissimae et recentissimae (1690; English 1692); S. Hutton, Anne Conway: A Woman Philosopher (2004); SEP “Anne Conway”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Anne Conway › 1631–1679
Giambattista Vico
a influencé
Vico’s autobiography (1725–28) names Plato among his ‘four authors’: Plato contemplates man as he should be, Tacitus as he is, and Vico sought to join both. G. Vico, Vita di Giambattista Vico scritta da se medesimo (1725–28); SEP “Giambattista Vico”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Giambattista Vico › 1668–1744
Shaftesbury
a influencé
Shaftesbury’s The Moralists (1709), a philosophical rhapsody in dialogue form, renewed Plato’s identification of beauty and goodness and the ascent from beautiful forms to their source. Shaftesbury, The Moralists, a Philosophical Rhapsody (1709), in Characteristicks (1711); SEP “Lord Shaftesbury”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Shaftesbury › 1671–1713
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
a influencé
In Emile (1762) Rousseau sent readers seeking an idea of public education to Plato’s Republic, ‘not a political work’ but ‘the finest treatise on education ever written’. J.-J. Rousseau, Émile ou De l’éducation (1762), Book I; SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Jean-Jacques Rousseau › 1712–1778
Hryhorii Skovoroda
a influencé ✓
Skovoroda wrote Socratic dialogues on self-knowledge, such as Narcissus (c. 1770), and drew on Plato for his contrast of visible and invisible nature. H. Skovoroda, Narkiss (c. 1770); D. Chyzhevsky, Narys istorii filosofii na Ukraini (1931); IEP “Hryhorii Skovoroda”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Hryhorii Skovoroda › 1722–1794
Moses Mendelssohn
a influencé
Mendelssohn’s Phaedon (1767) recast Plato’s dialogue on the immortality of the soul, keeping its setting but replacing its arguments with proofs from modern metaphysics. M. Mendelssohn, Phädon oder über die Unsterblichkeit der Seele (1767); SEP “Moses Mendelssohn”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Moses Mendelssohn › 1729–1786
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher
a influencé
Schleiermacher translated Plato into German (1804–28) and argued in his introductions that the dialogue form belongs to the content of Plato’s philosophy. F. Schleiermacher, Platons Werke (1804–28), General Introduction; SEP “Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher › 1768–1834
Friedrich Hölderlin
a influencé
In Hyperion (1797–99) Hölderlin named the beloved after Diotima in Plato’s Symposium and, in a Platonic vein, made beauty the visible sign of the unity of all being. F. Hölderlin, Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland (1797–99); Plato, Symposium
Attestation: brouillon IA
Friedrich Hölderlin › 1770–1843
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling
a influencé ✓
As a Tübingen student Schelling wrote a commentary on Plato’s Timaeus (1794, published 1994) that anticipates the world-soul of his philosophy of nature (On the World-Soul, 1798). F. W. J. Schelling, “Timaeus” (1794), ed. H. Buchner (1994); Von der Weltseele (1798)
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling › 1775–1854
Arthur Schopenhauer
a influencé ✓
In Book Three of The World as Will and Representation (1819) Schopenhauer made Plato’s Ideas, as grades of the will’s objectification, the object of art and aesthetic contemplation. A. Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (1819), Book Three; SEP “Arthur Schopenhauer”
Arthur Schopenhauer › 1788–1860
Ralph Waldo Emerson
a influencé ✓
Emerson made Plato the type of the philosopher in Representative Men (1850): ‘Out of Plato come all things that are still written and debated among men of thought.’ R. W. Emerson, Representative Men (1850), “Plato; or, the Philosopher”; SEP “Ralph Waldo Emerson”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Ralph Waldo Emerson › 1803–1882
Paul Natorp
a influencé
Natorp’s Platos Ideenlehre (1903) reads Plato’s Ideas critically, as hypotheses of a scientific method, and finds in Plato an early idealism. SEP “Paul Natorp” (A. Kim), §1; SEP “Neo-Kantianism” (J. Heis), §2
Attestation: brouillon IA
Paul Natorp › 1854–1924
John Dewey
a influencé
Dewey urged a return to the ‘dramatic, restless, cooperatively inquiring Plato’ of the dialogues, rejecting the Platonic separation of knowing from doing (From Absolutism to Experimentalism, 1930). J. Dewey, “From Absolutism to Experimentalism” (1930); The Quest for Certainty (1929)
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
John Dewey › 1859–1952
Alfred North Whitehead
a influencé
Whitehead called the European philosophical tradition ‘a series of footnotes to Plato’ (Process and Reality, 1929) and drew on the Timaeus for his cosmology of creative process. A. N. Whitehead, Process and Reality (1929); Adventures of Ideas (1933); SEP “Alfred North Whitehead”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Alfred North Whitehead › 1861–1947
Hans-Georg Gadamer
a influencé ✓
From Platos dialektische Ethik (1931) on, Gadamer took the Platonic dialogue as model of understanding, making the logic of question and answer central to Truth and Method (1960). H.-G. Gadamer, Platos dialektische Ethik (1931); Wahrheit und Methode (1960); SEP “Hans-Georg Gadamer”
Hans-Georg Gadamer › 1900–2002
Simone Weil
a influencé
Weil read Plato as a mystic whose Good and ascent from the cave prefigure grace (‘Dieu dans Platon’, in La Source grecque, 1953). S. Weil, “Dieu dans Platon”, in La Source grecque (1953); Intuitions pré-chrétiennes (1951)
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Simone Weil › 1909–1943
Iris Murdoch
a influencé
Murdoch took Plato’s Good, pictured as the sun, as the indefinable focus of moral attention (1970) and examined his distrust of art (The Fire and the Sun, 1977). I. Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good (1970); The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists (1977); SEP “Iris Murdoch”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Iris Murdoch › 1919–1999
Critique
Critiques reçues de 12
Aristote a enseigné à
a enseigné à ✓
Attested by Aristotle himself, who counts himself among the Platonists (‘we’, Metaphysics I.9, 990b9–17; ‘friends of ours’, Nicomachean Ethics I.6, 1096a11–17); his twenty years in the Academy are reported by later biographers (Diogenes Laertius 5.9). Aristotle, Metaphysics I.9, 990b9–17; Nicomachean Ethics I.6, 1096a11–17; Diogenes Laertius 5.9
critiqué par
Aristotle criticised Plato’s separate Forms for explaining neither change nor knowledge – ‘empty words and poetic metaphors’ – and rejected a single Form of the Good. Aristotle, Metaphysics I.9, 990b–991b; Nicomachean Ethics I.6, 1096a11–1097a14; SEP “Aristotle’s Metaphysics”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Aristote › 384–322 av. J.-C.
Friedrich Nietzsche
critiqué par
Nietzsche called Plato’s invention of pure spirit and the good in itself the worst of errors, and Christianity ‘Platonism for the people’ (Beyond Good and Evil, 1886, Preface). F. Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886), Preface; Götzen-Dämmerung (1889), “How the True World Finally Became a Fable”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Friedrich Nietzsche › 1844–1900
Martin Heidegger
critiqué par
Heidegger argued that Plato’s allegory of the cave shifts truth from unconcealment to the correctness of seeing the Idea, beginning Western metaphysics (‘Platons Lehre von der Wahrheit’, 1942). M. Heidegger, “Platons Lehre von der Wahrheit” (1942; in Wegmarken, 1967); SEP “Martin Heidegger”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976
Karl Popper
critiqué par
Popper read Plato’s ideal state as a closed society and his historicism and holism as an intellectual source of modern totalitarianism (The Spell of Plato, 1945). K. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, vol. 1: The Spell of Plato (1945); critique: R. B. Levinson, In Defense of Plato (1953)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Karl Popper › 1902–1994
Hannah Arendt
critiqué par
Arendt held that Plato’s philosopher-ruler replaced action among equals with the model of making, beginning the tradition’s escape from politics into rule (The Human Condition, 1958, § 31). H. Arendt, The Human Condition (1958), § 31 “The Traditional Substitution of Making for Acting”; “What Is Authority?”, in Between Past and Future (1961)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Hannah Arendt › 1906–1975
Jacques Derrida
critiqué par
In ‘Plato’s Pharmacy’ (1968) Derrida read the Phaedrus’ condemnation of writing as a pharmakon, remedy and poison, arguing that the privilege of speech depends on what it excludes. J. Derrida, “La pharmacie de Platon”, Tel Quel 32–33 (1968), repr. in La dissémination (1972); Plato, Phaedrus 274b–278b
Attestation: brouillon IA
Jacques Derrida › 1930–2004
Tout afficher (12)Afficher moins
Antisthène
critiqué par
Antisthenes rejected Plato’s Forms – he saw a horse but not ‘horseness’ – and mocked Plato in a dialogue called Sathon. Simplicius, In Categorias 208.28–32; Diogenes Laertius 3.35
Attestation: brouillon IA
Antisthène › v. 445–365 av. J.-C.
Diogène de Sinope
critiqué par
Diogenes mocked Plato’s definitions and Forms, presenting a plucked chicken as ‘Plato’s human being’ and seeing a table but no ‘tableness’ (Diogenes Laertius 6.40, 6.53). Diogenes Laertius, Lives VI.40, VI.53; IEP “Diogenes of Sinope”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Diogène de Sinope › v. 412–323 av. J.-C.
Gilles Deleuze
critiqué par
Deleuze called for ‘reversing Platonism’: instead of ranking copies by their likeness to the Ideas, he affirmed the simulacrum and difference (The Logic of Sense, 1969, appendix). G. Deleuze, Logique du sens (1969), appendix I.1 “Platon et le simulacre”; Différence et répétition (1968)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Gilles Deleuze › 1925–1995
Luce Irigaray
critiqué par
In Speculum (1974), ‘Plato’s Hystera’, Irigaray read the cave allegory as a womb, arguing that Platonic metaphysics turns the maternal origin into a realm of mere copies. L. Irigaray, Speculum de l’autre femme (1974), part III “L’hystéra de Platon”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Luce Irigaray › né(e) en 1930
Adriana Cavarero
critiqué par
Cavarero reclaimed female figures like Diotima from Plato’s patriarchal order, against a philosophy oriented to death and the abstract soul rather than birth (In Spite of Plato, 1990). A. Cavarero, Nonostante Platone (1990); Engl. In Spite of Plato (1995)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Adriana Cavarero › né(e) en 1947
Luciano Floridi
critiqué par
Floridi argued that the ‘user’s knowledge’ tradition inherited from Plato should be complemented, if not replaced, by constructionism: knowing as making and modelling (‘A Defence of Constructionism’, 2011). L. Floridi, “A Defence of Constructionism: Philosophy as Conceptual Engineering”, Metaphilosophy 42 (2011), 282–304; The Logic of Information (2019); Plato, Republic X, 601c–602a
Attestation: brouillon IA
Luciano Floridi › né(e) en 1964
Critiques adressées à 1
Protagoras
a critiqué
In the Theaetetus Plato argued that Protagoras’ ‘the human being is the measure of all things’ refutes itself, since it must concede that its opponents are right. Plato, Theaetetus 152a, 170e–171c; IEP “Protagoras”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Protagoras › v. 490–420 av. J.-C.
Œuvres
- v. 399 av. J.-C.Apologie de Socrate
Discours de défense de Socrate : une vie sans examen ne vaut pas la peine d’être vécue.
- v. 385 av. J.-C.Le Banquet
Discours sur Éros – l’ascension d’un beau corps jusqu’à l’Idée du Beau.
- v. 380 av. J.-C.Phédon
Le dernier jour de Socrate : preuves de l’immortalité de l’âme et théorie des Idées.
- v. 375 av. J.-C.La République
Qu’est-ce que la justice ? L’allégorie de la caverne, les rois-philosophes et le bannissement des poètes.
- v. 370 av. J.-C.Parménide
Le jeune Socrate est entraîné par Parménide dans les difficultés de la théorie des Idées.
- v. 370 av. J.-C.Phèdre
Sur l’amour, la rhétorique – et l’écriture comme remède douteux (pharmakon).
- v. 360 av. J.-C.Timée
Un démiurge façonne le cosmos d’après des modèles éternels.
Position
Platon se demandait comment un savoir stable et un bien authentique sont possibles dans un monde de changement et de simple opinion. Sa réponse fut la théorie des Formes : au-delà des choses visibles se tiennent des Formes éternelles et immuables – le Juste, le Beau, le Bien lui-même – que l’esprit peut saisir par la raison. L’allégorie de la caverne montre l’ascension de l’âme, des ombres jusqu’à la lumière du Bien. Apprendre, c’est se ressouvenir de ce que l’âme immortelle a jadis contemplé ; l’âme bien ordonnée reflète l’État juste, où les philosophes gouvernent.
Vie et contexte
Platon était issu d’une famille aristocratique athénienne et fut un disciple dévoué de Socrate, dont l’exécution le bouleversa profondément. Après des voyages qui le menèrent dans le sud de l’Italie et en Sicile, il fonda l’Académie à Athènes vers 387 av. J.-C., modèle de toutes les écoles ultérieures. Il écrivit une trentaine de dialogues, la plupart avec Socrate comme interlocuteur principal.
Apparaît dans
- Voyage « Du mythos au logos » · Étape 7 sur 8
- Voyage « Qu’est-ce qui est juste ? » · Étape 1 sur 10
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