Topography and Deep Structure in Plato: The Construction of Place in the Dialogues (SUNY series in Ancient Greek Philosophy)

A literary and historical analysis of the structure and meaning of recurrent symbols, images, and actions employed in Plato’s dialogues. In this book, Clinton DeBevoise Corcoran examines the use of place in Plato’s dialogues. Corcoran argues that spatial representations, such as walls, caves, and roads, as well as the creation of eternal patterns and chaotic images in the particular spaces, times, characterizations, and actions of the dialogues, provide clues to Plato’s philosophic project. Throughout the dialogues, the Good serves as an overarching ordering principle for the construction of place and the proper limit of spaces, whether they be here in the world, deep in the underworld, or in the nonspatial ideal realm of the Forms. The Good, since it escapes the limits of space and time, equips Plato with a powerful mythopoetic tool to create settings, frames, and arguments that superimpose different dimensions of reality, allowing worlds to overlap that would otherwise be incommensurable. The Good also serves as a powerful ethical tool for evaluating the order of different spaces. Corcoran explores how Plato uses wrestling and war as metaphors for the mixing of the nonspatial, eternal forms in the world and history, and how he uses spatial images throughout the dialogues to critique Athens’s tragic overreach in the Peloponnesian War. Far from merely an incidental backdrop in the dialogues, place etches the tragic intersection of the mortal and the immortal, good and evil, and Athens’s past, present, and future. Contents 8 List of Figures 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction. Plato’s Esoteric Conception of Space 14 Physical Space and Narrative Space 23 Depth and Surface 27 Plot and Settings 30 Historical Space and the Canon 32 Chapter 1. Descent into the Maelstrom 36 The Republic, the Oracle of Trophonius, and the Peloponnesian War 36 The Long Walls 39 The Cave 41 The Opening of the Republic and the Oracle of Trophonius 46 The Oracle of Trophonius 49 Socrates as a Leader of Souls 55 The Myth of Er 58 Chapter 2. The Menexenus, Socrates, and the Battle of Arginusae 64 Dead Souls 64 The History of Athens 69 The Battle 70 The Trial 73 The Anachronism 73 The City of the Dead 78 Chapter 3. The Symbolism in the City Plan of Plato’s Atlantis 84 The Present Past and Past Present 84 Intentional Incompleteness? 86 The Circuit Walls of Atlantis 91 Oreichalkos and Platonic Metallurgy 96 Geomancy 102 Chapter 4. The Slow Boat from Delos, or Socrates’s Ship Comes In? 106 Which Ship Is That? 106 The Woman in White 108 Reenactment: Saving Athens Again 116 Socrates and Divination 117 Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On 120 The Delia 124 Chapter 5. Wrestling and the Fair Fight in Plato 132 Plato’s View of Wrestling 132 Wrestling for Phaedrus 136 Lysis: Wrestling as an Enactment of Philosophic Dialogue 146 The Republic: Thrasymachus as Pankratist 148 Wrestling, Dialectic, and Authenticity 150 Theomachia: Calliope versus Aphrodite in Plato’s Philebus 152 War and Remembrance 158 War, Conflict, and the Good 160 Chapter 6. The Good as Architectonic 164 Alcibiades’s Eccentric Orbit of the Good 164 The Allegory of the Cave and the Myth of the True Earth 170 The Good as Architectonic 177 Interdimensionality 180 Notes 188 Bibliography 246 General Index 262 Index of Names 286 Index Locorum 294 Machine generated contents note: Physical Space and Narrative Space -- Depth and Surface -- Plot and Settings -- Historical Space and the Canon -- ch. 1 Descent into the Maelstrom -- The Republic, the Oracle of Trophonius, and the Peloponnesian War -- The Long Walls -- The Cave -- The Opening of the Republic and the Oracle of Trophonius -- The Oracle of Trophonius -- Socrates as a Leader of Souls -- The Myth of Er -- ch. 2 The Menexenus, Socrates, and the Battle of Arginusae -- Dead Souls -- The History of Athens -- The Battle -- The Trial -- The Anachronism -- The City of the Dead -- ch. 3 The Symbolism in the City Plan of Plato's Atlantis -- The Present Past and Past Present -- Intentional Incompleteness? -- The Circuit Walls of Atlantis -- Oreichalkos and Platonic Metallurgy -- Geomancy -- ch. 4 The Slow Boat from Delos, or Socrates's Ship Comes In? -- Which Ship Is That? -- The Woman in White -- Reenactment: Saving Athens Again -- Socrates and Divination -- Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On -- The Delia -- ch. 5 Wrestling and the Fair Fight in Plato -- Plato's View of Wrestling -- Wrestling for Phaedrus -- Lysis: Wrestling as an Enactment of Philosophic Dialogue -- The Republic: Thrasymachus as Pankratist -- Wrestling, Dialectic, and Authenticity -- Theomachia: Calliope versus Aphrodite in Plato's Philebus -- War and Remembrance -- War, Conflict, and the Good -- ch. 6 The Good as Architectonic -- Alcibiades's Eccentric Orbit of the Good -- The Allegory of the Cave and the Myth of the True Earth -- The Good as Architectonic -- Interdimensionality. Clinton DeBevoise Corcoran examines the use of place in Plato's dialogues. Corcoran argues that spatial representations, such as walls, caves, and roads, as well as the creation of eternal patterns and chaotic images in the dialogues, provide clues to Plato's philosophic project. Specifically, the Good serves as an overarching ordering principle for the construction of place and the proper limit of spaces here in the world, deep in the underworld, or in the nonspatial ideal realm of the Forms. The Good equips Plato with a powerful mythopoetic tool to create settings, frames, and arguments that superimpose different dimensions of reality, allowing worlds to overlap that would otherwise be incommensurable. Corcoran explores how Plato uses wrestling and war as metaphors for the mixing of the nonspatial, eternal forms in the world and history, and how he uses spatial images throughout the dialogues to critique Athens's tragic overreach in the Peloponnesian War. -- Adapted from the cover.