Season 14 · 5 May 2026The foundations of the Platonic and Aristotelian distinction- 9:09The School of AthensHis painting shows Plato with index finger raised and Aristotle with his hand turned downward, imagery of their opposition.
Appears in 10 videos · 10 passages, 3 of them in depth.
Dominique Pagani refers to Raphael mainly through The School of Athens, which he uses as the image of the opposition between Plato and Aristotle. He comes back to it from 2015 to 2026: Plato raises his index finger toward the sky, while Aristotle holds his hand out toward the earth1. He reads this gesture as the opposition between rationalism and empiricism1. He takes it up again in connection with Lenin and "What Is to Be Done?"2, with Hegel3, and with whether the sciences of history are real4. Later he uses it on language and thought in Lavoisier and on the foundations of the distinction between the two philosophers, for which the painting provides the "imagery"5. Elsewhere, he takes Raphael as an example of abstract painting in Hegel's sense6. He also comes across him in an anecdote by Gustave Moreau7 and in the nickname "Raphael of sounds" given to Mozart8. Finally, he quotes Pisarev's saying that he prefers a Russian shoemaker to a Russian Raphael9.
Summary produced automatically from 10 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italian:; March 28 or 6 April 1483 – 6 April 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael (UK: RAF-ay-əl, US: RAF-ee-əl, RAY-fee-, RAH-fy-EL), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. […]
Read the article on WikipediaText: Wikipédia, CC BY-SA 4.0, excerpt · Portrait: Raphael, Public domain
Season 14 · 5 May 2026The foundations of the Platonic and Aristotelian distinction
Season 9.2 · 7 Jan 20219 #11 How can sciences of history be real?
Season 1 · 10 Dec 2015#1.5 Between crisis and war: Philosophising?
Season 14 · 13 Apr 2026Language and thought: The case of Lavoisier
Series · 18 Apr 2021#2 Lenin, or the wings of dreams
Series · 2 Feb 2021Musicosophy 13. Mozart restored
Season 4 · 16 May 2018#4.8 Angélique (by Nerval)
Series · 2 Feb 2016Hegel on the Beach 3/5
Series · 29 Jan 2016What is to be done? 2/3
Series · 27 Dec 2014M for Music