Plato’s Influence on Western Philosophy and Scientific Thought

A special issue of Philosophies (ISSN 2409-9287).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 2721

Special Issue Editor

Instituto de Estudios Clásicos "Lucio Anneo Séneca", Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28903 Madrid, Spain
Interests: ancient political thought and its reception; Plato and Platonism; Aristotle; history of metaphysics; edition and commentary of classical texts

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Plato’s political philosophy was and still is an object of study and controversy in our age. Its significance for contemporary political theory and its impact on the history of political ideas on democratic and antidemocratic tendencies is noteworthy. Nevertheless, the significance of Plato’s political thought cannot be completely understood without its relationship to metaphysics, i.e., to Plato’s theory of principles. This new perspective founded and developed by the so-called Tubinger Schule not only illuminates and clarifies the unity of Plato’s thought in theoretical and practical philosophy but also strongly influenced the whole history of political philosophy in the West. The issue offers a selection of papers regarding the connection between the philosophy of principles and the impact of Plato’s theory in contemporary practical philosophy.

Prof. Dr. Francisco L. Lisi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Plato
  • politics
  • principles
  • Strauss

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

10 pages, 255 KiB  
Article
An Interpretation of the Deep Disagreement between Plato and Protagoras from the Perspective of Contemporary Meta-Ethics and Political Epistemology
by Manuel Knoll
Philosophies 2023, 8(5), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8050090 - 25 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1800
Abstract
Since the early 20th century, two new disciplines emerged in the tradition of analytic philosophy: meta-ethics and political epistemology. Nevertheless, debates on such questions go back to the ancient Greeks and, in particular, to the debates between Plato and Protagoras. This article elucidates [...] Read more.
Since the early 20th century, two new disciplines emerged in the tradition of analytic philosophy: meta-ethics and political epistemology. Nevertheless, debates on such questions go back to the ancient Greeks and, in particular, to the debates between Plato and Protagoras. This article elucidates the controversy between Plato and the influential sophist Protagoras from the perspective of contemporary meta-ethics and political epistemology. It argues that the main motivation of Plato’s philosophical endeavors is to overcome Protagoras’s skeptical claims that no moral facts and no moral knowledge applicable to political issues exist. The paper defends the thesis that there exists a deep disagreement between Protagoras and Plato on the existence of moral facts and moral knowledge. A deep disagreement is a disagreement that cannot be resolved through the use of reasons and arguments. Applying the foundationalist approach Robert J. Fogelin proposes in his seminal paper “The Logic of Deep Disagreements”, this article argues that the deep disagreement between Protagoras and Plato exists because their political thought is based on “underlying principles” that clash. While Plato’s political philosophy rests on his religious and theological convictions, the political thought of Protagoras is based on his skepticism, relativism, and agnosticism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plato’s Influence on Western Philosophy and Scientific Thought)
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