Heraclitus, Plato, and the philosophic dogs (A note on Republic II, 375e-376c)

n 15 (july, 2015) • Archai: As Origens do Pensamento Ocidental

Autor: Enrique Hülsz Piccone

Abstract:

The paper focuses on a neglected instance of the Platonic reception of Heraclitus in the Republic (II, 375e-376c), trying to show that it’s likely that Plato’s passage makes an allusion to Heraclitus’ B97 (“Dogs bark at whom they don’t know”) and B85 (“It’s difficult to fight ?????, for what it longs for it pays with ????). The main claim is that Plato’s use of the image of dogs looks back to Heraclitus, which invites an exploration of the possibility that at least some elements of Plato’s kallipolis might derive from Heraclitus – particularly from some ethical and political fragments. A brief survey of these suggests a deep philosophical affinity among the two authors in several important areas (as the so-called ‘moral psychology and ‘ethical intellectualism’), and questions the commonplace traditional interpretation of Heraclitus as a defender of aristocratic morality.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_15_10

Texto Completo: http://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/8614/7173

Archai: As Origens do Pensamento Ocidental

Archai: Journal on the origins of Ancient Thought is published three times a year by Archai UNESCO Chair (University of Brasilia, Brazil).

It is published in Brazil (University of Brasília/Annablume) and in Portugal (Coimbra University Press, IUC), both printed and electronic free online access.

All manuscripts will undergo blind-review by peers.

Archai Journal is committed to a speedy and author-friendly review process; Authors can expect to receive notification the editorial decision within four months.

It is indexed by Web of Science - ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index), SciELO, European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH Plus), L’Année Philologique, Philosopher‘s Index, DOAJ, Phil Brasil, Latindex, Cengage Learning, Google Schoolar, BASE, Diadorim, PKP Index and Portal de Periódicos da CAPES. It has Impact Factor 5.171 in the Scientific Journal Impact Factor and it got the second best grade (A2) of its field (Philosophy) in the latest Qualis CAPES evaluation.