Book contents
- Philosophy and Religion in Plato’s Dialogues
- Philosophy and Religion in Plato’s Dialogues
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Forms, the Good, and the Divine
- Chapter 2 Eternal Longings
- Chapter 3 Dialogue of Self and Soul
- Chapter 4 Wings of Desire
- Chapter 5 The Gods Made Visible
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 1 - The Forms, the Good, and the Divine
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 2021
- Philosophy and Religion in Plato’s Dialogues
- Philosophy and Religion in Plato’s Dialogues
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Forms, the Good, and the Divine
- Chapter 2 Eternal Longings
- Chapter 3 Dialogue of Self and Soul
- Chapter 4 Wings of Desire
- Chapter 5 The Gods Made Visible
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The ancient Greeks conceived of the gods as having knowledge of the past and the future. Humans, mere “creatures of a day,” had finite and limited minds. Some early Greek philosophers, however, claimed to have gained the wisdom of the gods, having received this in a divine revelation or by aligning their thoughts with the divine mind. Indeed, thinkers such as Xenophanes, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Diogenes of Apollonia presented rich and varied ideas about god and the human grasp of the divine.1 Plato follows in this tradition by granting the human soul the divine capacity to apprehend the divine realm of the Forms.
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- Philosophy and Religion in Plato's Dialogues , pp. 45 - 63Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021