Images and Imagination in Plato’s Republic and Sophist
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Images are familiar to us, but if asked what they are, philosophical difficulties emerge. This paper examines how Plato dealt with the difficulties concerning images. Plato faced the basic question about the image because the Sophist insists that images do not exist, based on the Parmenidean prohibition of combination between what is and what is not, in the Sophist. This treatment of images should be considered along with the Republic because the Sophistic counterattack in the Sophist is closely related to the critical treatment of images in the Republic, and we can detect the Parmenidean backgrounds in these two dialogues. In these dialogues, Plato treated the notion of the image in two ways. First, the image is not simply an inferior entity but a transforming factor. Images guide philosophical inquiry by visualising the target of discussion. Second, by distinguishing between true and false images, we can investigate the truth by means of the former. To consider the role that images play in philosophical inquiry, this paper discusses three examples: two are from the Republic and one is from the Sophist. Firstly, two opposite figures, one of the most just and the other of the most unjust, are presented by Glaucon in Republic II. They serve as a model of opposite personality for considering what justice and injustice are. Secondly, the Ideal City is depicted in words, in Republic V, as a model of the Form of justice. Thirdly, the Sophist of Noble Lineage, in the Sophist, shows that the same image appears differently to different observers. From an improper point of view, this person looked like a sophist at first, but at the final examination, it turned out to be a philosopher. Thus, this paper shows the correct philosophical attitude towards images. If the Sophist rejects the existence of images and attempt to undo the distinctions between the original and the image and between true and false images, philosophical inquirers should prove the existence of images and try to distinguish between true and false images to contemplate the original, that is, reality. Thus, the correct use of images will make us philosophers.
Abstract
Images are familiar to us, but if asked what they are, philosophical difficulties emerge. This paper examines how Plato dealt with the difficulties concerning images. Plato faced the basic question about the image because the Sophist insists that images do not exist, based on the Parmenidean prohibition of combination between what is and what is not, in the Sophist. This treatment of images should be considered along with the Republic because the Sophistic counterattack in the Sophist is closely related to the critical treatment of images in the Republic, and we can detect the Parmenidean backgrounds in these two dialogues. In these dialogues, Plato treated the notion of the image in two ways. First, the image is not simply an inferior entity but a transforming factor. Images guide philosophical inquiry by visualising the target of discussion. Second, by distinguishing between true and false images, we can investigate the truth by means of the former. To consider the role that images play in philosophical inquiry, this paper discusses three examples: two are from the Republic and one is from the Sophist. Firstly, two opposite figures, one of the most just and the other of the most unjust, are presented by Glaucon in Republic II. They serve as a model of opposite personality for considering what justice and injustice are. Secondly, the Ideal City is depicted in words, in Republic V, as a model of the Form of justice. Thirdly, the Sophist of Noble Lineage, in the Sophist, shows that the same image appears differently to different observers. From an improper point of view, this person looked like a sophist at first, but at the final examination, it turned out to be a philosopher. Thus, this paper shows the correct philosophical attitude towards images. If the Sophist rejects the existence of images and attempt to undo the distinctions between the original and the image and between true and false images, philosophical inquirers should prove the existence of images and try to distinguish between true and false images to contemplate the original, that is, reality. Thus, the correct use of images will make us philosophers.
참고문헌 (11)
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