Plato'sProtagorasand the Frontier of Genre Research

A Reconnaissance Report from the Field

Bibliographic Data

ID4907520
AuthorsJonathan Lavery (corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume28
Issue2
Pages191-246
Publication date2007-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoetics Today (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0333-5372 • E-ISSN: 1527-5507
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/03335372-2006-021
OpenAlexW2172038976
LanguageEN
References cited84

After a review of some general issues surrounding the interpretation of Plato's dialogues, I consider in detail the reception of Plato's Protagoras in English scholarship since 1956, that is, during the last half century. That scholarship falls into three periods. At first (1956-82) there was a sharp division between analytic philosophy commentators and other commentators, but near-unanimity in adopting a "Democritean" conception of the text as composed of discrete, separable parts. In the second period (1983-92), an "Aristotelian" conception of the text, in which functionally distinct parts coordinate with each other within a whole, became a serious rival to the Democritean one. Since 1992, several Aristotelian strategies have been developed. I diagnose these trends as an indication of growing sensitivity to the unity of Protagoras and its integration of literature and theory. I use this review to draw some morals about exegesis and scholarly specialization

Archaeology · Art · Frontier · Literature · Pure mathematics · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Historical and Literary Studies · History · Mathematics · Philosophy

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