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Szlezák, Thomas Alexander
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
On the Meaning of the Key Concepts in Plato’s Criticism of Writing: A Philological Approach to Phaedrus 274b-278e
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Keywords:
Plato’s Criticism of Writing, syngramma, timiōtera, boēthein tōi logōi, Gregory Vlastos
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The standard modern interpretation of Plato’s Criticism of Writing (
Phaedrus 274b-278e) is based on misunderstandings and incorrect interpretations of the key concepts of this text. The original Platonic meaning of the concepts in question can be found in the dialogues. Instead of importing modern prejudices into the interpretation of Plato’s Criticism of Writing, this article offers an exercise in explaining Plato out of Plato (in accordance with the old Greek principle Ὅμηρον ἐξ Ὁμήρου σαφηνίζειν. The sense of the Criticism of Writing turns out to be the contrary of what it has been believed to be in the last 50 years since G. Vlastos 1963.
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