Ancient philosophy

Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches ancient philosophy mainly through the pairing of Plato and Aristotle, which he sees as the two poles between which the history of philosophy oscillates1. He traces the birth of Platonic philosophy to a crisis, the condemnation of Socrates and the Syracuse episode. He also sets philosophy apart from wisdom traditions by the lack it presupposes. He comments on the allegory of the cave and the "long detour" of the Republic: mathematics, dialectic, the good beyond the true, and the political return towards the prisoners. He opposes Platonic transcendence to Aristotelian immanence, in which the soul is the living being itself. In the same way, he contrasts the Plato of the concept with the Aristotle of judgement1. In the Phaedo, he points to a materialism in Plato and reads Socrates' dream, where music is called the highest philosophy, in the light of Greek mousikè and of Pythagoras2. He argues that Plato and Aristotle agree against the sophists: truth exists, and language is the path to it. He considers Hegel more Platonic, and sees in Kojève an approach to a synthesis of the two3.

1. 1The foundations of the Platonic and Aristotelian distinction5 May 2026
2. 2#15 Plato, Rousseau, Hegel and music9 Feb 2021
3. 3#15 Nietzsche: philosophical or musical relevance? Answers to questions23 Jun 2022

Introduction produced automatically from the 3 sessions on this theme, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the sessions.