Did Platon (Politeia 571d) Believe That Every One of Us Is a Repressed Cannibal?

IF 0.3 3区 历史学 0 CLASSICS
POLIS Pub Date : 2023-04-25 DOI:10.1163/20512996-12340406
Cătălin Enache
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

At the beginning of Book 9 of the Politeia (571cd), Platon suggests that all people bear in themselves unlawful desires like the desire to have sex with their own mother or with any other human, god, or beast, the desire to murder anyone, or the desire to eat anything. Modern scholars take it for granted that by the desire to eat anything, Platon means cannibalism. This view is based on the fact that Platon discusses unlawful desires in connection with the tyrannical man and that the tyrant is, elsewhere in the Politeia, twice connected with anthropophagy (at 8.565d–566a and 10.619c). This paper challenges this communis opinio and argues that we have no reason to assume that at Politeia 9.571d Platon claims that every one of us has the hidden desire to consume human flesh. Also, the alleged cannibalism of the Platonic tyrant is questioned. A close reading of the passages 8.565d–566a and 10.619c reveals that in the depiction of the tyrant Platon makes use of mythological motifs and literary topoi but never literally claims that the tyrant has cannibalistic desires.
柏拉图(Politeia 571d)相信我们每个人都是被压抑的食人族吗?
在《Politeia》(571cd)第9卷的开头,柏拉图提出,所有的人都有非法的欲望,比如与自己的母亲或任何其他人、神或野兽发生性关系的欲望,谋杀任何人的欲望,或者吃任何东西的欲望。现代学者理所当然地认为,柏拉图所说的想吃任何东西的欲望意味着同类相食。这种观点是基于这样一个事实,即柏拉图讨论了与暴虐的人有关的非法欲望,而在《政治篇》的其他地方,暴君两次与食人有关(在8.565d-566a和10.619c)。本文对这一共产主义观点提出了挑战,认为我们没有理由认为柏拉图在Politeia 9.57 d上声称我们每个人都有吃人肉的隐藏欲望。此外,柏拉图式暴君的食人行为也受到质疑。仔细阅读8.565d-566a和10.619c段,可以发现柏拉图在描述暴君时使用了神话主题和文学主题,但从未真正声称暴君有同类相食的欲望。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
POLIS
POLIS CLASSICS-
CiteScore
0.50
自引率
0.00%
发文量
33
审稿时长
7 weeks
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