Table of Contents

Introduction: The tension between the rational and the non-rational in Plato’s reasoning...... 11 Plato’s endeavor of truth-finding...... 15 Plato’s rational/non-rational continuum of reasoning...... 16 Mythos andlogos in Plato: How useful are competing modes of enquiry?...... 19 How useful are Plato’s ideas for problem-solving in our.....24 time?

1. How does Plato communicate his ideas?...... 29 Foundations of communication and culture-construction...... 29 Performative acts and symbol-making...... 30 Identity and complex culture...... 31 Intentionally...... 33 Complex language...... 34 Salient agents in cultural identification as a precondition for self-reflection and reasoning...... 35 Language use and the crafting of philosophical terminology...... 37 Existing terms in new contexts...... 40 Plato’s creation of new terms...... 52 New phraseology introduced by Plato...... 59 The narrative fabric of Platonic discourse: Myth as a tool of philosophical reasoning...... 63 The interaction of orality and literacy...... 70

2. How does Plato rationalize what is beyond the limits of reason?...... 75 Reason vis-ä-vis the non-rational: Hybrid topics of Plato’s philosophy...... 76 Plato’s approaches to the world of the supernatural...... 78 Plato’s respect for divinely inspired traditions...... 79 The mythical ages of mankind and their representation in Plato’s dialogues...... 81 Gender issues in an ideal society...... 83 The dream of perfect orderliness...... 84 Partnership of the sexes in light of blindfolded...... justice88

3. How does Plato rationalize belief systems?...... 93 Plato’s attitude toward the veneration of female divinities...... 93 Athena as multi-talented patron of a mosaic culture, a network of pre-Greek traditions and Greek innovations...... 96 Artemis, goddess of nature and of the...... city 101 Demeter and her gift of agriculture...... 103 Gaia, the Earth Goddess and early patron of the sanctuary at Delphi...... 105 Hera, goddess of fertility and early patron of Olympia...... 106 Other goddesses whose cults were spread throughout the Greek world...... 107 Plato’s way to rationalize accepted beliefs...... 108 Customary law and divine law...... 109 The political impact of myth: Athena and the foundation myth of the Athenian state...... 115 Myths to live by: The significance of oracles and their pronouncements...... 121

4. How does Plato rationalize psychological properties, value systems and aesthetics?...... 127 The discourse about the soul...... 127 Immortality...... 133 Elysium - Resting-place of the souls of the righteous...... 135 The tripartite nature...... 138 The metaphor of the charioteer...... 146 The essence of beauty: Parameters of a non-rational value system...... 148 The strife for the good and the role of Diotima...... 148 Cultural symbolism in light of aesthetics...... 155 The lure of mystery cults and magic...... 160 5. How does Plato contextualize what he considers to be tru e ? ...... 167 The cognitive foundation of contextualization: The relationship between forms and appearances...... 167 Forms as knowledge and knowledge as ...... wisdom 172 Cultural memory as recollected knowledge...... 177 Connecting with the memory of the ancestors and their knowledge...... 184 Plato’s forms vis-ä-vis reality: the Visible and the Invisible...... 197 Continuity of art style aesthetics in light of Plato’s Theory of the Forms...... 202 The new materialism: A modem trend...... 205

6. How does Plato contextualize knowledge as the product of philosophy?...... 209 knowledge-construction as the basis for contextualized culture-construction...... 210 Propositional knowledge...... 211 Prescriptive knowledge...... 212 Greek theater: Knowledge-sharing as a corporate experience...... 213 Theater as performance...... 215 Theater as architectural form ...... 218 Contextualization in process...... 221 Myths serving the education of the young ...... generation221 Philosophy as an educational trail for the rulers in an ideal state...... 225 Religious philosophy as a path toward salvation...... 233 The instructive capacity of Plato’s community-sustaining knowledge in light of cultural relativism...... 234 Knowledge useful for communal cohesion...... 236 The essence of oral instruction...... 238 The essence of written instruction...... 239 The essence of visual instruction...... 241 The essence of behavioral (attitudinal) instruction...... 245 7. How can Plato’s visions be accommodated to a contextual theory of truth to serve modern philosophy?...... 251 Classical truisms and their reflection in intellectual life of antiquity...... 251 Neo-classical theories of truth...... 257 Mythologia andphilosophier. Their contextualization by means ofrhetorike ...... 265 The contextual theory of truth and the preeminence of Plato’seikos mythos...... 273

8. How can a contextual theory of truth be...... tested? 277 The forms and their contextual changes...... 277 Coping with strange philosophical equations...... 285 Deconstructing pseudo-...... 289 Pseudo-paradoxes from antiquity...... 290 Zeno’s paradoxes...... 290 ’ ...... 292 Theseus paradox...... 294 Socrates’ paradox...... 296 (paradox of the...... heap) 300 Pseudo-paradoxes from the Middle Ages and modem times...... 301 The ...... 302 Moore’s paradox...... 302 ...... 305

Epilogue: Modernized Plato and the fabric of a new paradigm for philosophy...... 307

Bibliography...... 313

Index 369