The argumentative structure of Plato's Lysis

• Grant number: 13/05311-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 05, 2013
• End date: March 04, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Languages
• Principal Investigator: Daniel Rossi Nunes Lopes
• Grantee: Helena Andrade Maronna
• Supervisor: Maria Michela Sassi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università di Pisa, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/13247-1 - Plato's Lysis: translation, introductory study and notes, BP.MS

Abstract

The dialogue Lysis is the only work of Plato dealing exclusively with the issue of philía, a term usually translated as friendship. While the dialogue can be seen as a prelude to some ideas that will be developed in more depth in other works of Plato (namely the Phaedrus and Symposium), this is a text whose argument is self-sufficient and should be interpreted as a whole before being considered in the context of other Platonic writings. As the dialogue ends without the characters reaching a satisfactory conclusion on philía, Socratic examination seems to fail. Some commentators understand this dialogue as a starting point for other dialogues later, as Price; yet there are others who understand it as a work of complete sense, as Bolotin and Trabattoni. It is the second case which we are considering for the development of this project, without neglect of other current considerations. In this stage of the project, we intend to deepen this discussion researching how some of the leading experts in Platonic philosophy have addressed this issue. Thus, the research will focus on looking at the structure of argumentative dialogue its own meaning and positive bound, as we shall see, the convenient aporia to which it is subjected. (AU)