In the proem that precedes the account of the generation of the world, Timaeus provides very important elements for understanding the discourse he is about to delivery. It is a complex text that displays at least three different levels: dialectical, analogical (or metaphorical) and epistemological. In the dialectical section, Timaeus establishes that the sensible universe is a generated reality and as such has a cause; in the metaphorical section, he indicates the analogical schemes he will use to explain the genesis (...) of the cosmos (technical and biological) and the causes on which it depends. Finally, in the epistemological section he explains the reason why this exposition cannot achieve truth but must be content with likeness. (shrink)

The heristic argument with which Meno questions the possibility of inquiry and knowledge is tackled by Socrates through the reference to an archaic and religious doctrine, according to which the soul is immortal and has seen all things. Through this reference Socrates actually wants to affirm the affinity between the soul and the world of forms. So behind the myth of the prenatal vision of forms by the soul Plato intends to assert the ontological condition of the soul, that is, (...) its affinity to forms. (shrink)

Un debat tres vif eut lieu parmi les commentateurs medioplatoniciens sur le rapport entre la forme du bien de la Republique et le demiurge du Timee. Certains d’entre eux, comme Plutarque et Atticus, parvinrent a identifier ces deux entites, d’autres, comme Numenius, a situer les deux principes dans une relation hierarchique, en attribuant au bien la qualification de ≪premier dieu≫ et de pere et au demiurge celle de ≪second dieu≫ et de producteur. Cet article se propose d’examiner la question de (...) l’identite de la forme du bien avec le demiurge sur des bases nouvelles, en prenant comme point de depart une interpretation metaphorique de la figure du demiurge, qui ne se presente pas comme un principe metaphysique independant, mais comme une description metaphorique de l’element causal‑efficient du monde des formes, c’est a dire du vivant intelligible. Le demiurge coinciderait donc avec la totalite active et dynamique du monde intelligible. Dans la seconde partie de l’article est prise en consideration l’hypothese que la superiorite de la forme du bien par rapport aux autres formes est du meme genre que celle du demiurge, dans la mesure ou le bien aussi peut etre compris comme la totalite du kosmos intelligible. Il s’agit d’une hypothese qui ne va pas sans difficultes, mais qui merite d’etre examinee jusqu’au bout. (shrink)

O tema da natureza da virtude e de sua transmissibilidade atravessa quase todos os diálogos da juventude de Platão, isto é, os considerados “diálogos socráticos”. Este adquire uma relevância central no Protágoras e no Mênon, o qual se abre exatamente com a interrogação acerca da maneira de adquirir a virtude. No curso do diálogo, a arete assume um significado eminentemente político: Mênon pergunta a Sócrates como se pode obter sucesso no campo político, como se pode adquirir reconhecimento social. A tese (...) em torno a qual se desenvolve a conversação assume a identidade de virtude e conhecimento (episteme). Todavia, a consequência que deriva da assunção desta tese, isto é, o princípio com base no qual a virtude, enquanto conhecimento, seja ensinável, é refutado por meio do célebre “argumento empírico”: a ausência de homens capazes de transmitir a sua virtude aos filhos demonstra que essa não é ensinável, e ,portanto, não é conhecimento. Sócrates propõe, então, situar na opinião correta (orthe doxa) a fonte da virtude política. Todavia, a validade do argumento empírico resulta muito incerta, uma vez que parece fundar-se na ambiguidade do significado do termo didakton, que quer dizer seja “ensinável” seja efetivamente “ensinado”. Também a tentativa de fundar a virtude na theia moira deve ser tratada com certo ceticismo. Na realidade, Sócrates alude, no fim do diálogo, à possibilidade de que exista um homem que seja virtuoso e que seja também capaz de ensinar a virtude a outro homem: este homem extraordinário é naturalmente o próprio Sócrates. (shrink)

This article replies to the critical note by Trabattoni («Elenchos», xxxiii (2012) pp. 69-107). The author defends his interpretation of Plato's Theaetetus against Trabattoni's objections, arguing that the maieutic and peirastic character of the dialogue explains its negative or aporetic conclusion. For the failure of all the attempts to define knowledge in the dialogue doesn't mean that, according to Plato, knowledge is not possible for men or that it can be identified with doxa; on the contrary, Plato clearly states that (...) the philosopher, i.e. the dialectician, is absolutely able to attain the perfect knowledge of the forms. The subsequent failures in the Theaetetus, particularly the last two, depend on the admission of an "additive model'' according to which knowledge is "doxa plus something'', an epistemological attitude that is explicitly rejected in the Meno. (shrink)

Cet article est consacré à la théorie des causes de Plutarque dans ses rapports avec le platonisme des premiers siècles de l’époque impériale. Le texte le plus important se trouve dans les chapitres 47-48 du dialogue De defectu oraculorum, où Plutarque présente une théorie dualiste des causes, qui admet deux genres de cause : d’une part la cause divine et rationnelle, qui comprend la cause finale et la cause efficiente, d’autre part la cause nécessaire et matérielle, qui comprend la matière (...) et la cause instrumentale. Cette version de la théorie des causes dépend, de manière directe ou indirecte, du Timée de Platon. Dans d’autres ouvrages, comme le De animae procreatione, Plutarque ajoute deux causes différentes, à savoir la cause paradigmatique, qui s’identifie avec le monde des idées ou avec dieu lui-même, et la cause du mouvement, représentée par l’âme pré-cosmique irrationnelle. Il est intéressant de remarquer que, dans son exposition de la théorie des causes, Plutarque emploie la description prépositionnelle, très répandue dans les écoles philosophiques : l’agent est donc to hyph’hou, le paradigme to pros ho, la matière to ex hou, alors que la cause finale est indiquée avec la formule to dia ho. (shrink)

Will the new Rome I Regulation meet its goals - to improve the predictability of the outcome of litigation? - to bring certainty as to the law applicable and the free movement of judgments? - to designate the same national law irrespective of the country of the court in which an action is brought? The most important features of this instrument were outlined and discussed by distinguished legal experts from all over Europe and beyond at the conference "The Rome I (...) Regulation", held in Verona on March 2009. This first book in English on the Rome I Regulation contains the papers submitted to that conference. (shrink)

O Teeteto de Platão é um diálogo maiêutico não propositivo. Nele, Platão não apresenta a sua própria epistemologia, mas discute as posições de alguns autores contemporâneos, entre os quais Protágoras. Ele aplica o procedimento maiêutico à doutrina protagoreana para demonstrar que uma semelhante concepção não é sustentável.