Philosophy

As Andrea Nightingale notes in her persuasive new monograph, scholars often seem reticent to acknowledge the theological context within which Plato develops his metaphysics. By analysing and emphasizing the language of divinity applied to the forms, soul, and cosmos across four dialogues, the Symposium, Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Timaeus, Nightingale builds a case for rehabilitating Plato's status as a fundamentally ‘theological philosopher’. She argues that the tendency to sideline Plato's theological thinking compromises our reading of the dialogues: ‘To understand his philosophy, we need to locate his ideas in the context of Greek religious discourses and practices’ (8). Nightingale achieves this in two ways. The first is by offering brief but useful explanations of key Athenian rituals and belief sets, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries, epiphany, and Orphism. The second is by analysing allusions to and adaptations of these practices and ideas within the dialogues. Her conclusion is that, via his explanation of knowledge, psychology, and metaphysics in terms of the divine, Plato develops a novel conception of human beings, and philosophers in particular, in terms of their relation to the divine.