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L’interpretazione dei proemi dei dialoghi nel Commento all’Alcibiade I di Proclo

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Published/Copyright: December 11, 2024
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Abstract

The aim of this paper, which is devoted to the Proclean Commentary on the Alcibiades I, is to explain not only why this dialogue is so popular in Neoplatonism, i.e. why it is considered the foundation of Plato’s teaching, but also its methodological importance for reading the proems of the dialogues. For, in my opinion, it has not yet been properly investigated whether and why the two issues, i.e. the introductory importance and the importance for grasping the relevance of the proems, are closely linked. I will therefore first try to show how the isagogical questions are perfectly embedded in a philosophical system that has redefined the very criteria of textual analysis around the idea that each dialogue is a literary microcosm analogous to the macrocosmic universe. I will then show how the exegetical methods proposed by Proclus in his Commentary on the Alcibiades are influenced by certain theoretical assumptions that are useful for reading the dialogues in general, and finally I will demonstrate how the proem of the Alcibiades allows us to re-evaluate the importance of the proems that Plato appended to his writings.


Corresponding author: Anna Motta, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples, Italy, E-mail:

Ringraziamenti

Ho presentato una versione ridotta di questo testo al seminario Codices Neapolitani, tenutosi il 29 maggio 2024 presso il Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell’Università di Napoli “Federico II”. Desidero ringraziare gli organizzatori del seminario, i colleghi e gli studenti che hanno partecipato al dibattito e Riccardo Chiaradonna, Francesco Ferro, Lidia Palumbo, Sophie Van der Meeren e Antonio Vargas per aver letto una prima versione di questo saggio. Resto ovviamente io l’unica responsabile di debolezze e/o mancanze.

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Published Online: 2024-12-11
Published in Print: 2024-12-17

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