Authority and Authoritative Texts in the Platonist Tradition
02/2021
All disciplines can count on a noble founder, and the representation of this founder as an authority is key in order to construe a discipline’s identity. This book sheds light on how Plato and other authorities were represented in one of the most long-lasting traditions of all time. It leads the reader through exegesis and polemics, recovery of the past and construction of a philosophical identity. From Xenocrates to Proclus, from the sceptical shift to the re-establishment of dogmatism, from the Mosaic of the Philosophers to the Neoplatonist Commentaries, the construction of authority emerges as a way of access to the core of the Platonist tradition.
Introduction
By Michael Erler, Jan Erik Heßler, Federico M. Petrucci
Chapter 1 – Xenocrates’ Invention of Platonism
By David Sedley
Chapter 2 – An Iconography of Xenocrates’ Platonism
By David Sedley
Chapter 3 – Arcesilaus’ Appeal to Heraclitus as a Philosophical Authority for His Sceptical Stance
By Anna Maria Ioppolo
Chapter 4 – Authority beyond Doctrines in the First Century bc
Antiochus Model For Plato S Authority
By Federico M. Petrucci
Chapter 5 – Authority and Doctrine in the Pseudo-Pythagorean Writings
By Bruno Centrone
Chapter 6 – Constructing Authority
A Re Examination Of Some Controversial Issues In The Theology Of Numenius
By Alexandra Michalewski
Chapter 7 – Plutarch’s E at Delphi
The Hypothesis of Platonic Authority
By George Boys-Stones
Chapter 8 – Aristotle’s Physics as an Authoritative Work in Early Neoplatonism
Plotinus And Porphyry
By Riccardo Chiaradonna
Chapter 9 – Conflicting Authorities? Hermias and Simplicius on the Self-Moving Soul
By Saskia Aerts
Chapter 10 – Kathēgemōn: The Importance of the Personal Teacher in Proclus and Later Neoplatonism
By Christian Tornau
Chapter 11 – ‘In Plato we can see the bad characters being changed by the good and instructed and purified.’
Attitudes To Platonic Dialogue In Later Neoplatonism
By Anne Sheppard
Index Locorum
General Index
(Texte de l’éditeur)