The Athenian Janus. About Plato's paradoxical position between orality and writing.
Keywords:
Writing, Myth, Rhetoric, Argumentation, Plato, AristotleAbstract
Plato being one of the greatest thinkers and prolix writers of all time, his position towards writing is paradoxical and hypercritical. For this reason, this same fact does not cease to amaze, both for its time –after two 6th and 4th centuries of great written production– and for its heirs –both academics and Neoplatonists– who tried to unravel its ultimate meaning, in order to weigh his inheritance in all its dimensions. This study reviews what the writing revolution meant for the Greek mentality, in order to frame Platonic production; and immediately afterwards, it is about exposing the springs and motives that led Plato to take that position. Likewise, the arguments he offers in the Phaedrus and in Seventh letter against writing are reviewed, and the scope he wants for his own art. Finally, the definitive opposition that Aristotle represents in all of this is explained prospectively.
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