Didactic Platonism: a System of Thought and its Metaphysical Patterns / Anti-Dogmatic Patterns
Final Report Abstract
This research focuses on the relation between isagogical patterns characterising the Platonist tradition and the theoretical background they are inserted in. By challenging commonplaces characterising scholarship on these themes, my main aim is to demonstrate that Platonism develops in a highly original way isagogical schemata which are not mere didactic devices, but are in fact the expression of a metaphysically based educational and communicative system. Indeed, as the Neoplatonists stress the relation between form and content, the schemata are to be seen first of all as a reflection of the metaphysical realm. Drawing from a rich variety of texts, the research deals with the topics students were required to be aware of early in their studies; these requirements were eventually schematized into introductory patterns (i.e. schemata isagogica). I have tried to demonstrate that they were mainly the didactic expression of new theoretical and metaphysical achievements: the exegetical categories suggested in rhetorical treatises prove necessary, yet are not sufficient in themselves to justify their application within the Platonic system. All in all, this research shows that Neoplatonist isagogical patterns do not simply follow extrinsic criteria, serving as merely rhetorical devices that can be used to read any text; rather, they appear to be closely connected to the doctrinal acquisitions of a philosophy whose teaching method offers the clearest example of a theoretical effort that is inseparable from exegesis.
Publications
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Introducing Plato’s System through σχήματα: Isagogical Aspects of Platonism in Late Antiquity, «Incontri di filologia classica 2016-2017» 16 (2018), pp. 113-127
Motta, Anna
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Platone nelle università del mondo antico. Gli appunti di un anonimo studente della metà del VI sec. d.C., «Intersezioni, Rivista di storia delle idee» 38/2 (2018), pp. 145-168
Motta, Anna
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Gli schemata isagogica e la questione metafisico-letteraria dello skopos, in E. Cattanei e C. Natali (a cura di), Studi sul Medioplatonismo e il Neoplatonismo, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, Roma 2019, pp. 73-99 (ISBN: 9788893592956)
Motta, Anna
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L’incostante presenza di uno schema isagogico: il caso della vita auctoris, in V. Veronesi (a cura di), Il Calamo della Memoria. Riuso di testi e mestiere letterario nella tarda antichità. VIII, Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste 2019, pp. 47-64. [ISBN: 978-88-5511-094-5]
Motta, Anna
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The Impostor Of The Cratylus. Galen And Proclus On Etymology, in A. Pietrobelli (éd.), Contre Galien. Critiques d’une autorité médicale de l’Antiquité à l’âge moderne, Édition Champion, Paris 2020, pp. 45-62 [ISBN: 978-2-7453-5326-9]
Motta, Anna
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«Leggi sempre scrittori di indiscutibile valore». Riflessioni sulla didattica delle scuole nello specchio degli antichi filosofi, «Bollettino della Società Filosofica Italiana», 230 (2020), pp. 87-98 (ISSN 11129-5643)
Motta, Anna
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Problemi di filologia filosofica: la letteratura isagogica, «Rendiconti dell’Accademia di Archeologia Lettere e Belle Arti 2019-2020», 80 (2021), pp. 107-123 (ISBN 13: 978-88-6906; ISSN 2035-7729)
Motta, Anna
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The Life of Plato in introductory schemata: Some Observations about the Preface to Olympiodorus' Commentary on Alcibiades (in Alc. 1, 1-3, 2), in L.A. Joosse (ed.), Olympiodorus of Alexandria. Exegete, Teacher, Platonic Philosopher, Brill, Leiden – Boston 2021, pp. 31-54 (e-Book: ISBN: 978-90-04-46670-8)
Motta, Anna
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The Many Voices of a Teacher without Teachers, «Méthexis» 33 (2021), pp. 170-196
Motta, Anna
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From the Stoic Division of Philosophy to the Reading Order of Plato’s Dialogues, in: A. Motta & F.M. Petrucci (eds.),Isagogical Crossroads from the Early Imperial Age to the End of Antiquity, Leiden/Boston, Brill 2022 . - ISBNs 978-90-04-50618-3
Motta, Anna
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Isagogical Crossroads from the Early Imperial Age to the End of Antiquity, Leiden/Boston, Brill 2022. ISBNs 978-90-04-50618-3 (hardback) and 978-90- 04-50619-0 (ebook)
A. Motta & F.M. Petrucci (eds.)
