In this class, we will survey the Neoplatonic Commentaries on the dialogues of Plato. This corpus, while not nearly as vast as the extant Commentaries on Aristotle, is becoming increasingly important in terms of shaping arguments about the interpretation of the original dialogues. Also of interest are the literary and philosophical assumptions the Commentators employ as avenues of interpretation.

In this class, we will survey some of the surviving Commentaries on Plato's dialogues by philosophers such as Proclus, Olympiodorus, Damascius, and Hermias. We will look at Commentaries on I Alcibiades, Phaedrus, Parmenides, Timaeus, Philebus and also at the so-called Anonymous Prolegomena to the Study of Plato's Dialogues, now thought to be by Olympiodorus.

The goals of the class will be to answer specific questions about how the Neoplatonists approached specific interpretive issues in these dialogues (e.g. the hypotheses of the Parmenides; the figure of Socrates in I Alcibiades; the argument for the creation of the world in the Timaeus) as well as broader issues such as how they understood the thought world of the dialogues through their concept of the dialogues' skopoi.

Special guest appearance by John Finamore.

Course Requirements:

Student will take responsibility for introducing a commentary to the class and then developing a paper that engages in an analysis of interpretive issues of interest to Neoplatonists and to modern readers.

Intended Audience:

Graduate students

Class Format:

One three hour seminar meeting per week