Eveno di Paro fra Protagora, Gorgia e Platone.

Capra, Andrea

Abstract

Evenus of Parus plays a surprisingly important role in Plato’s account of the life and death of Socrates: in both the Apology and the Phaedo he works as a negative foil for the philosopher at two key moments, namely when he converts, respectively, to the practice of elenchus and to the composition of poetry. Evenus’ importance in Socrates’ life, I argue, reflects Plato’s appropriation of a number of his poems, which Plato reshapes so as to adapt the sophist’s relativism and values, arguably modelled on Protagoras’, to his own truth-oriented agenda. Plato’s Phaedrus echoes Gorgias’ Encomium of Helen along similar lines, that is by replacing doxa with aletheia. A pattern emerges: Plato appropriates the writings of the sophists by placing them in a markedly truth-oriented context. This helps explain a discussed piece of information, according to which Protagoras’ Antilogiai was a major influence on Plato’s Republic.

Citation

Capra, A. (2018). Eveno di Paro fra Protagora, Gorgia e Platone. Méthexis, 30(1), 25-35. https://doi.org/10.1163/24680974-03001002

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Mar 6, 2018
• Publication Date: 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 28, 2018
• Journal: Méthexis
• Print ISSN: 0327-0289
• Electronic ISSN: 2468-0974
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 25-35
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/24680974-03001002
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1360054