Платонова теорија начела

Abstract

Plato’s dialogues are mostly artistically depicted discussions between contemporaries. In them, parts of Plato’s teaching are presented in the form of a dialogue. Often the most difficult, and as a rule, the most important places in the dialogues, cannot be interpreted on the basis of the data contained in the dialogue itself, nor on the basis of everything written in all the dialogues. Some dialogues are more monologues than dialogues. The question of the interpretation of Plato’s philosophy needs to be considered within the broader question of the interpretation of writings from the past. If the requirements of critical historiography are taken into account, it can be seen that it is very difficult to establish the reliability of events and processes that took place almost two and a half thousand years ago. The phrase “unwritten teachings” (ἄγραφα δόγματα) is related to the question of sources for the reconstruction of Plato’s philosophy. It refers to the written evidence of Plato’s lectures, which were held in the Academy in Athens. The history of interpretation of Plato’s writings testifies to serious doubts about the authenticity of certain dialogues, letters, as well as testimonies about “unwritten teachings”. Dialogues and “unwritten teachings” were preserved in the same way. The relativization of the seemingly strong phrases “written learning” and “unwritten teachings” is inevitable. Actually, the reconstruction of the “unwritten teachings” provides an indispensable aid to the interpretation of the “written teachings”.