Childish Nonsense? The Value of Interpretation in Plato’s Protagoras

In the Protagoras , Plato presents us with a puzzle about interpretation. Socrates claims to find several familiar Socratic theses about morality in his interpretation of a poem by Simonides, yet, immediately afterwards, he castigates interpretation itself as “childish nonsense.” In this paper, I argue that the puzzle can be resolved if we understand Socrates’s interpretation of Simonides’s poem to be a parody, which articulates implicit criticisms of sophistic interpretation . The parodic criticisms rely on an ideal of interpretation, what I call philosophical interpretation , whereby an interpreter remains indifferent to the authority of the poet, attempts a plausible reconstruction of the poem so that a philosophical view is formulated, and critically assesses this view. However, this ideal of interpretation can only partly escape the explicit criticisms Socrates voices against interpretation, and it thus has only limited value due to a contingent relation to truth.

Art · Epistemology · Ideal (ethics) · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Morality · Nonsense · Poetry · SOCRATES · Socratic method · Value (mathematics) · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

• Being and Becoming Good in Plato's Protagoras

  Braden Reese, Brian Reese•Illinois Classical Studies•2022

  Añadir item

• Hesiod in Plato’s Theaetetus

  Maria Pavlou•The Classical World•2018

  Añadir item

• Plato's Ion

  Open Access•Franco V Trivigno, Franco Trivigno•Plato's Ion•2020

  Añadir item

• Iambi et Elegi Graeci: Ante Alexandrum Cantati Volume 1

  M L West•Iambi et Elegi Graeci: Ante…•1972

  Añadir item

• The Rhetoric of Parody in Plato's Menexenus

  Franco V Trivigno, Franco V Trivigno Franco V Trivigno•Philosophy and Rhetoric•2008

  Añadir item

• Literary Interpretation in Plato’s Protagoras

  Ruth Scodel, Inc Mathesis Publications•Ancient Philosophy•1986

  Añadir item

• The Socratic Elenchus

  Gregory Vlastos•The Journal of Philosophy•1982

  Añadir item

• The Argument and Form of Simonides 542 PMG

  Matthew W Dickie, Matthew Dickie•Harvard Studies in Classical…•1978

  Añadir item

• Inspiration in the Aesthetics of Plato

  Morriss Henry Partee•Journal of Aesthetics and Art…•1971

  Añadir item

• The Ion

  Kenneth Dorter•Journal of Aesthetics and Art…•1973

  Añadir item

• The Greek Particles

  George Melville Bolling, J D Denniston•Language•1935

  Añadir item

• Greek Melic Poets

  Edward H Spieker, Herbert Weir Smyth•The American Journal of Philology•1900

  Añadir item

• Aristophanes and the Definition of Comedy

  M S Silk•Aristophanes and the Definition…•2002

  Añadir item

• The subjection of muthos to logos

  Open Access•Stephen Halliwell•The Classical Quarterly•2000

  Añadir item