Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 1-1-2014 All of a Sudden: The Role of Ἐξαιφ́ νης in Plato's Dialogues Joseph J. Cimakasky Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Cimakasky, J. (2014). All of a Sudden: The Role of Ἐξαιφ́ νης in Plato's Dialogues (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/68 This Worldwide Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALL OF A SUDDEN: THE ROLE OF ἘΧΑΙΦΝΗΣ IN PLATO’S DIALOGUES A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Joseph Cimakasky May 2014 Copyright by Joseph Cimakasky 2014 ALL OF A SUDDEN: THE ROLE OF ἘΧΑΙΦΝΗΣ IN PLATO’S DIALOGUES By Joseph Cimakasky Approved April 9, 2014 ________________________________ ________________________________ Ronald Polansky Patrick Lee Miller Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ John W. McGinley Professor of Philosophy (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ James Swindal Ronald Polansky Dean, McAnulty College Chair, Philosophy Department Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT ALL OF A SUDDEN: THE ROLE OF ἘΧΑΙΦΝΗΣ IN PLATO’S DIALOGUES By Joseph Cimakasky May 2014 Dissertation supervised by Professor Ronald Polansky There are thirty-six appearances of the Greek word ἐξαίφνης in Plato’s dialogues. Usually translated as “all of a sudden” or “suddenly,” ἐξαίφνης emerges in several significant passages. For example, ἐξαίφνης appears three times in the “allegory of the cave” from Republic vii, and heralds the vision of the Beautiful in Symposium. Commonly translated in the Parmenides as “the instant,” ἐξαίφνης also surfaces in a crucial section of the dialogue’s training exercise. This dissertation demonstrates the connection obtaining between the thirty-six scattered appearances of ἐξαίφνης in order to reveal the role it plays in linking Plato’s theory of ideas with education. In short, it discloses how Plato’s step-by-step, methodical approach to philosophical education climaxes with a dynamic conversion experience signified by the appearance of ἐξαίφνης. iv DEDICATION for Renee v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT John W. McGinley inspired this project. He was the first philosopher to introduce me to ἐξαίφνης and the esoteric in Plato. I owe him a debt that I could never repay. There is nobody like John W. McGinley, and I am so happy that he is my friend. Ronald Polansky directed this dissertation. I admire him more than anyone I have ever met. Patrick Lee Miller contributed more to this dissertation than he will ever know. His courses inspired more “sudden insights” than any other. I could not have completed this dissertation without the love and support of my family: Gerald Cimakasky, Grace Cimakasky, Jerry Cimakasky, James Cimakasky, Christian Cimakasky, Shannon Zera, Gerard Caviston, Barbara Caviston, Renee Caviston, Bix, Jerry Caviston, and Heather Caviston. Finally, thank you to all of my friends at Duquesne University who have helped me so much over the years, especially Therese Bonin, Taine Duncan, Robert Guerin, David Hoinski, Sarah Miller, Chris Mountenay, Stephen Newmyer, Christina Rawls, James Swindal, Joan Thompson, and Matt Valentine. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………iv Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………….v Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………………vi Chapter I…………………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter II……………………………………………………………………………………….25 Chapter III………………………………………………………………………………………57 Chapter IV………………………………………………………………………………………91 Chapter V……………………………………………………………………………………...110 Chapter VI……………………………………………………………………………………..134 Chapter VII…………………………………………………………………………………….166 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………...197 vii Chapter I – Introduction: Ἐξαίφνης in Greek Literature Prior to Plato In Plato’s entire body of work, the Greek word ἐξαίφνης appears precisely thirty-six times. Usually translated as “all of a sudden” or simply “suddenly,” ἐξαίφνης emerges in some of the most significant passages of Plato’s dialogues.1 For instance, ἐξαίφνης appears three times in the “allegory of the cave” in Republic vii, once during the climactic moment of the “epistemological digression” from the Seventh Letter, and immediately precedes the vision of the Beautiful in Symposium. Translated in Parmenides as “the instant,” ἐξαίφνης also surfaces in a crucial section of the training exercise that constitutes the latter two-thirds of this challenging dialogue. Because it appears that this term may be highly significant, the purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate the connection obtaining between the thirty-six scattered appearances of ἐξαίφνης in order to reveal the role it plays in linking Plato’s theory of ideas with education.2 In short, I aim to show how in several significant contexts throughout the dialogues, Plato’s step-by-step, methodical approach to philosophical education culminates with a dynamic capstone signified by the appearance of ἐξαίφνης.3 What appears suddenly is unexpected and out of the ordinary. In Greek literature prior to Plato, “the sudden” generally indicates a quick turn for the worse. What I aim to show is that Plato shifts the meaning of the sudden to a more encouraging state of affairs. In other words, 1 Ἐξαίφνης is a Greek adverb most commonly translated as “suddenly”. The word is formed by combining the preposition ἐκ, which becomes ἐξ when placed before a vowel, and the adverb αἴφνης. Ἐξ admits of multiple meanings depending upon usage, but the most general sense of the word is from out of or away from a thing. The adverb αἴφνης, or alternately ἄφνω, means unawares, or of a sudden. Thus, the root meaning of ἐξαίφνης connotes surprise, or being caught unaware all of a sudden. 2 For the most part, those commentators who recognize the phenomenon either quickly dismiss it, or are at a loss to explain it. Cornford 1957, 203 offers a typical summation of ἐξαίφνης in the dialogues: “I have not been able to understand how Plato’s businesslike account of the instant at which the various species of change occur can be connected with the ‘sudden’ vision of the Beautiful and the doctrine of anamnesis. The only link appears to be the use of the word ἐξαίφνης in its normal sense of ‘suddenly’ at Symp. 210E, and Ep. vii, 341D.” Consequently, I shall demonstrate how the various appearances of ἐξαίφνης are connected. 3 As a minor corollary to this objective, I will examine the emergence of the Greek words and cognates for “third” and “strange” that often accompany appearances of ἐξαίφνης in Plato’s dialogues. 1 with Plato, ἐξαίφνης takes on a much more promising and positive role. Furthermore, Plato’s innovation with respect to the sudden would seem to be a result of the general orientation of philosophy as he understands it, as opposed to the Homeric worldview that had prior to Plato dominated Greek thought. Specifically, it is Plato’s distinctive conceptualization of the natural, metaphysical, and ethical spheres that differentiates his vision of the cosmos from the fatalistic spiritual climate of Homer’s Greece. For example, one special aspect of Plato’s use of the sudden is found in his non-linear development of philosophical education. In Plato’s hands ἐξαίφνης represents something akin to a flash of illumination, and this sudden illumination experience is transformative and self-sustaining. The change that it inspires is enriching and constructive. Consequently, Plato’s philosophy reorients ensuing conceptions about the sudden, and, in turn, supplants the Homeric worldview that characterized sudden change as destructive and disastrous. The current chapter, however, reviews the use of ἐξαίφνης in all Greek literature prior to Plato in order to determine the background of his usage. There are fifty-nine instances of this term in extant Greek works previous to Plato. The earliest appearances are in Homer’s Iliad. In addition to Homer, ἐξαίφνης appears in the works of Aesop, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Herodotus, Isocrates, Aristophanes, and Xenophon, among others. Thus I intend to compare and contrast these early appearances in order to discern parallel meanings obtaining among the different genres these authors represent. In the examination below, the relevant passages are presented and cited, while the context and significance of each appearance of ἐξαίφνης is clarified by a brief exegesis. In this way I hope to provide a suitable foundation for an investigation of Plato’s usage of ἐξαίφνης. 2 Homer That the Homeric epics were known to virtually all Greeks is beyond dispute. The popularity of these masterpieces, coupled with an egalitarian approach to literacy, served to establish the Iliad and the Odyssey as a cultural bond for the ancient Greeks. As Garland 2008, 6 notes, “Literacy in the Greek world was not confined to a particular social group, as it was in Egypt, for instance, where only members of the priesthood were literate. This made for far greater openness in all aspects of Greek life – civil, political,