My paper aims to establish two things: (1) what exactly is the main subject of Plato’s Ion, and accordingly (2) for what purpose Plato wrote it. (1) In my view, and contrary to the mainstream interpretation, Plato’s Ion is not a dialogue about poetry and the poet as a professional figure: Socrates’ interlocutor, Ion of Ephesus, is actually not a poet, but the most famous of Homeric rhapsodes. His proper task, according to Plato, is to communicate to the audience Homer’s thought and, in this way, to become his ‘mediator’ (hermeneus): the rhapsode is, on the one hand, the authorized depository of Homeric wisdom and, on the other, the living voice able to transmit it. His mediation is worth of Plato’s philosophical interest for it is not an exegesis of Homer’s verses (aiming to establish what Homer really said), but a praise of his paideutic value and of the model of life he proposes: Ion is then a praiser (epainetês) of Homer, who recognizes and promotes his authority in both ethical and political life, by inducing the audience to emulation with his meaningful praise of the poet. (2) Plato’s purpose is to show how the ethics underlying this kind of praise – a praise not only of a model of life but above all of the authority of such a model – is dangerous (i) because persuasive but groundless (one is praised not because he is wise, but is wise, because he is praised) and (ii) because it promotes a dogmatic and passive style of life and thought. The ethics of praise is then essentially incompatible with philosophy.

Plato’s Ion and the Ethics of Praise

CAPUCCINO, CARLOTTA
2011

Abstract

My paper aims to establish two things: (1) what exactly is the main subject of Plato’s Ion, and accordingly (2) for what purpose Plato wrote it. (1) In my view, and contrary to the mainstream interpretation, Plato’s Ion is not a dialogue about poetry and the poet as a professional figure: Socrates’ interlocutor, Ion of Ephesus, is actually not a poet, but the most famous of Homeric rhapsodes. His proper task, according to Plato, is to communicate to the audience Homer’s thought and, in this way, to become his ‘mediator’ (hermeneus): the rhapsode is, on the one hand, the authorized depository of Homeric wisdom and, on the other, the living voice able to transmit it. His mediation is worth of Plato’s philosophical interest for it is not an exegesis of Homer’s verses (aiming to establish what Homer really said), but a praise of his paideutic value and of the model of life he proposes: Ion is then a praiser (epainetês) of Homer, who recognizes and promotes his authority in both ethical and political life, by inducing the audience to emulation with his meaningful praise of the poet. (2) Plato’s purpose is to show how the ethics underlying this kind of praise – a praise not only of a model of life but above all of the authority of such a model – is dangerous (i) because persuasive but groundless (one is praised not because he is wise, but is wise, because he is praised) and (ii) because it promotes a dogmatic and passive style of life and thought. The ethics of praise is then essentially incompatible with philosophy.
2011
Plato and the Poets
63
92
Carlotta Capuccino
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/398261
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