In a 1985 article entitled “The Art of Glaukos,” Diskin Clay suggested that the enigmatic passage at the beginning of the geological myth in Phaedoreferred toRepublic10, where the soul is likened to the sea-creature Glaucus whose true nature, like the soul’s, is obscured by the distortions imposed by underwater life. Starting with a defense of Clay’s ingenious suggestion, my purpose is to compare Phaedoto Glaucus, with its true nature obscured by traditional assumptions about the order in which Plato composed his (...) dialogues, and thus how they should be read. At least part of the reason that Clay’s thesis has not been embraced is because it clashes with the dogma that Phaedocannot refer back to Republic; I want to challenge that dogma. Borrowing from Catherine Zuckert the notion that, since Phaedocomes at the end of Socrates’ story, it can usefully be read as the culmination of the Platonic dialogues, I will show how a “late” Phaedo—i.e., a reading of the dialogue that is open to the possibility that it refers to more than one dialogue generally considered to be later than it with respect to composition—recovers its true nature, presently encrusted with the oysters and seaweed of an outdated developmentalism that has obscured this culminating masterpiece of Plato’s dramatic and philosophical art. (shrink)

Le texte du Banquet de Platon constitue l’un des témoignages les plus importants de ce que fut l’institution pédérastique en Grèce antique. Le dialogue sur l’amour, qui prend la forme d’une réunion au cours de laquelle les différents protagonistes feront successivement l’éloge d’Éros, pose toutefois problème dans la mesure où la position de l’auteur est éminemment ambigüe. Bien que la position de Diotime semble plus cohérente avec le reste de la doctrine platonicienne, il serait malgré tout réducteur de considérer celle (...) de Pausanias comme un simple détour rhétorique opéré par Platon. Ainsi, il s’agira de montrer dans quelle mesure la position de Pausanias mérite une attention particulière. Il semble en effet que la thèse platonicienne, bien que réticente à encourager les relations homosexuelles charnelles, ne consiste pas en une réfutation complète des conclusions de Pausanias. (shrink)