Téleiai teletai. A study of the influence of Orphism and kindred religious movements on Plato's philosophy

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

While the influence of the religious movement known as Orphism on Plato's eschatological doctrine is rarely questioned, his philosophy is usually considered otherwise free of Orphic influence. This stance, however, is in sharp contrast with the attitude expressed in the Dialogues by the character of Socrates, who in a famous passage of the Phaedrus (249c) - which I quote in the title of my study - makes an explicit comparison between philosophy and initiation into the mysteries. My research seeks, therefore, to provide a new interpretative approach to the work of Plato, based on the appraisal of the religious aspects of Platonism and, more specifically, of its affinities with the Orphic movement. In particular, my study aims to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent did Orphism influence Plato's religious beliefs and, more broadly, his philosophy? 2. In what respects does Platonism differ from Orphism and from other ancient schools of thought influenced by Orphism? 3. How does the appraisal of the Orphic influence on Plato affect our understanding of his works and of his philosophy as a whole? The influence of Orphism on Plato was generally recognised before the second half of the 20th century, but the skepticism generated by the publication of Wilamowitz's Glaube der Hellenen (1931-1932) effectively banished Orphism from scholarly discourse, until new archaeological finds unequivocally confirmed the existence of an Orphic movement in pre-Hellenistic Greece. The only comprehensive study on the subject of Plato and Orphism, Bernabé's Platón y el orfismo (2011), offers a systematic analysis of Plato's testimonies on Orphism, but fails to assess its impact on his philosophy. My research will build upon Bernabé's work, examining Plato's relationship with Orphism beyond the mere question of Quellenforschung and will furthermore provide a compelling refutation of the Orpheo-skeptic position presently championed by Edmonds (Redefining Ancient Orphism. A Study in Greek Religion, 2013). Like Nilsson and Burkert, I argue that Orphism is best understood as part of the broader cultural phenomenon of Greek mystery religion, as demonstrated by the fact that it is often mentioned together with Pythagoreanism, Dionysism and the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient sources. The tight links between Orphism and Pythagoreanism, generally acknowledged by contemporary scholars, are particularly relevant in this context, given the major role played by the latter in the development of Plato's thought. In my analysis of the Orphic elements in Plato's philosophy I will also make use of the Neoplatonic commentaries, which have been largely neglected in recent Anglo-Saxon scholarship. Although over-emphasising Neoplatonic sources risks confusing Classical Orphism with a later Platonising reconstruction of it, this can be addressed by comparing Plato's texts with pre-Hellenistic testimonies, such as the Orphic Gold Tablets, while the discovery of the Derveni Papyrus has anyway demonstrated that later texts can contain much pre-Platonic Orphic material. My study will expand upon the relationship between Platonism and Orphism by analysing relevant passages from the Dialogues, in order to provide a unified and coherent view of Plato's belief system and assess its debt to the Orphic tradition. The first part will analyse Plato's cultural and historical context, focusing especially on Orphism and on its reception by the Presocratics. The second part will deal with the metaphysical foundation of Platonism, first by analysing the theory of Forms and the doctrine of the Soul in relation to the Orphic testimonies and then by examining their theological, cosmological and epistemological implications. The third and final part will be devoted to the field of practical philosophy and will analyse Plato's views on aesthetics, ethics and politics,