Vol.7, No 1, 2009 pp. 1 - 17
UDC 82.0 : 14 Platon
PLATO'S LEGACY: A REVISION
Lena Petrović
Department of English, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš
The purpose of the text is to suggest the need to reconsider and reevaluate Plato's legacy, particularly his contribution to literary theory and practice. Contrary to the unqualified admiration for the 'founder' of European philosophy, or less than convincing arguments concerning his legacy in the Romantic and Symbolist poetics, in what follows I will claim, with Bela Hamvash, that Plato's ambition was not to found anything, but to rescue, and not mankind but the state, and that in doing so he corrupted the more original spiritual traditions, which, in fact, underlie what is best in Romanticism, Symbolism, and also in earlier poetic movements wrongly referred to as Platonic, or Neo-Platonic. Far from inspiring significant poetic achievement, Plato's views of poetry and their metaphysical premises deserve close study for the sole reason that they represent an exemplary model for much of the subsequent reactionary use of philosophy and literary theory.
Key words: Plato, Socrates, Dionysus, Orphism, Pythagoras, Golden Age, corruption of being, theory, ethics, politics, metaphysics, science,
poetry, music, tragedy
PLATON I PLATONIZAM: REVIZIJA
Ovaj rad predstavlja pokušaj da se problematizuje ortodoksno shvatanje o Platonovom značaju za potonju evropsku književnu teoriju i praksu. Nasuprot bezrezervnom strahopoštovanju za 'utemeljivača' evropske filozofije, ili problematičnim argumentima u prilog platonističkih premisa romantičarske i simbolističke poetike, kao i arhetipske kritike, u radu se podržava tvrdnja Bele Hamvaša da Platonova suštinska ambicija nije bila da osniva već da spasava, i ne čovečanstvo već državu, te da je sledeći taj cilj falsifikovao i degradirao prvobitnu duhovnu baštinu, na čijim principima zapravo počivaju romantizam, simbolizam, kao i ono što je najbolje u renesansnim pesničkim i filozofskim pravcima pogrešno nazvanim neo-platonističkim. Daleko od toga da su nadahnule značajna poetska dostignuća ili uvide u prirodu umetnosti, u radu se ističe da Platonove ideje zavređuju pažljivo proučavanje utoliko što predstavljaju prvi primer ideološke upotrebe književne teorije.
Ključne reči: Platon, Sokrat, Dionis, orfizam, Pitagora, zlatno doba, propadanje bića, teorija, etika, politika, metafizika, nauka, poezija, muzika, tragedija
