Abstract

Lafrance thinks that the contemporary interpretations of the simile of the Sun, of the Divided Line, and of the allegory of the Cave have led to hopeless contradictions. Still worse, these contradictions bear on a crucial and essential passage of Plato's mature thought and illustrate the failure of contemporary methods of Platonic exegesis. To present another interpretation of the same type cannot resolve these contradictions. One needs to begin anew after having carefully examined the existing interpretations to determine what flaw they contain.