Abstract

MIGLIORI, Maurizio. The ontoepistemological schema of the Line. arete [online]. 2009, vol.21, n.1, pp.197-222. ISSN 1016-913X.

The aim of this paper is to prove how the Line, which Plato introduces to clarify what he understands by philosophers and philosophy, constitutes an interesting but entirely inadequate model according to the author himself. The paper also shows how even in this context Plato’s statements should never be taken in an absolute and simple manner. It particularly makes clear the ambivalence of the judgment concerning doxa; also, it highlights the fact that even when opposing philosophers and philodoxos, Plato emphasizes the limits of human knowledge. A distinction between what is and is true in itself and what is and is true for us arises. This ambivalence reaches its climax when the posiblity of knowing the Idea of the Good is discussed. Finally, issues such as the equal longitude of the two central segments of the Line or the relationship between them, will be pondered, considering that the Line turns out to be methodically different from the images of the Sun and the Cave, since it proposes a mathematical type of diagram. Furthermore, there will be a brief final allusion to the relationship between the Line and the Cave.

Keywords : line; doxa; mathematics; Good; philosopher.

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