Abstract

MIGLIORI, Maurizio. An extreme case: the educational project of Plato, writer of philosophy: the centrality of education for Athenian society. Educação e Filosofia [online]. 2017, vol.31, n.61, pp.107-139. ISSN 1982-596x.  https://doi.org/10.14393/REVEDFIL.issn.0102-6801.v31n61a2017-p107a139.

Plato judges the problem of education one of the central issues for the salvation of the Greek polis of his time. But, worthy pupil of Socrates, imposes first of all this problem to himself as writer on philosophy. This is not commu nicable as the other subjects because it requires the active participation of the subject that investigates. As he points out in the Phaedrus, the writing appears weak for its fixity and because of the impossibility to choose the reader and to dialogue with him. However Plato did not surrender to write, which appears useful both as a reminder and for those who are far away in time and space, and who follow the same search path. Therefore Plato invented a writing technique that he describes as “a game”: the dialogues are a sequence of protreptic texts who propose, in the form of a game, growing philosophical problems, based on how the dialogue itself communicates; it always defers the exposition of things of greater value, in summary the (Platonic) solution of the proposed problems. From one point of view, this attempt failed completely: the following genera tions used the writing to communicate and learn many things, not for a game as complex as what these texts proposed. However, if Plato’s desire was to force the reader “to do” philosophy, he and his dialogues have been really the masters of Western thought.

Keywords : Education; Philosophy; Writing; Dialogues.

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