Aither 29/2023:28-43 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2023.009

Stud jako sociální fundament v prótagorovském mýtu v Platónově dialogu Prótagoras

Veronika Konrádová

Univerzita Jana Evangelisty Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem

The paper explores the ancient concept of shame (aidôs) as a social emotion responsible for the coherence of the human community. It examines this issue in a narrower context, using the specific example of Plato’s text. The core of the analysis is the myth of the origin of culture in Plato’s Protagoras (Prot. 320d–322d), which presents God as the giver of the basic principles of the community functioning, i.e. shame and justice (aidôs kai dikê). The broader context of the interpretation is contemporary theories of the human culture emergence, in particular a comparison with the Sisyphus, fragment DK 88 B 25. Especially, the comparison notes fundamental differences in the conception of the human sociality principles in the two texts and, on the basis of this comparison, concludes that the Protagorean myth in the eponymous dialogue differs in  important respects from the Sophistic positions articulated in DK 88 B 25. The proposed reading therefore challenges the assumption that the narrative in the Protagoras reproduces the doctrine of the historical Protagoras and instead defends the position that this rendering reflects Platonic positions. In support of this interpretation, the paper refers to other passages in the Platonic corpus and selects for specific comparison the positive evaluation of shame (aidôs, aischynê) with emphasis on its ethical-social dimension in the Book I of Plato’s Laws (Leg. 646e–647c).

Received: September 26, 2023; Revised: September 26, 2023; Accepted: November 7, 2023; Published: February 15, 2024  Show citation