Incantamenti. Il potere della parola orale in Socrate e i rapsodi e l'invenzione platonica della performance filosofica

Resumo

What Plato is complaining about Homer and poetry in the Republic is the same as what, in the Ion, Ion presents himself to be excellent in -- namely to affect the audience emotionally through poetic performances. Ion's excellence reveals itself to be without any knowledge: it is not a techne, but derives from divine inspiration. Plato's criticism towards poetry is directed to the lack of rational ground of Ion's professional ability, depicting rhapsody and poetry as irrational, and denying Homer any kind of authority regarding citizens' education. In this essay, I highlight the criticism moved by Plato against rhapsody within a contrastive interpretation of Socrates and Ion on performance, which aims to unpack the practical motive of Plato's writing, i.e. to establish a new cultural philosophical leadership for Athens. Since Socrates has built his method of inquiry within the public dimension of oral performance too, I argue that Plato would not criticize rhapsody and poetry in conservative manners, but, on the contrary, using the power of the persuasive language for his benefits. Therefore, he provides it a new meaning in the achievement of the epistemic goods, creating the new model of philosophical writing. Doing so, Plato presents himself as the new Homer, and philosophy as the only method that is able to assure knowledge.