Последние слова Сократа: новый консенсус?

Аристей. Aristeas: Вестник классической филологии и античной истории. 2019. Т. 19. С. 17–35.

Prokopov K.

The traditional interpretation of Socrates’ last words in Plato’s Phaedo can be traced
back to neoplatonic commentaries on the dialogue, yet it become associated with Nietzsche’s
view that those words cry for an allegorical interpretation that life is a disease while death is a
cure and Socrates is asking his friends to make a sacrifice for Asclepius as he was cured from
life as illness. However, the status quaestionis is far from proclaiming this interpretation as the
last word on subject: other interpreters not only put forth a decisive critique of the traditional
treatment of Socrates’ words, but on the positive side made their own attempts to decipher the
ancient riddle. Here I will examine an interpretation that made a name in Foucault’s lectures and
was supported by a sufficient number of scholars: well enough reason to see this reading as a
credible alternative to the common perspective. According to it Socrates is showing gratitude to
Asclepius for having cured Socrates and his friends from the malady of false opinions and of
mistrust of logos (misology). After presenting a criticism of the traditional interpretation and
Foucalut’s view on the issue I will contribute a share of arguments of my own to strengthen the
latter stance. As we will see, the life-disease meaning is in harmony with seeing the Phaedo as
an asceticism manifesto while those who advocate for the misology-disease meaning are more
tend to think that Plato’s primary concern is to exhort his readers to the life of philosophy and
not to blame the embodied life as it is worst of all diseases. Thus, what this paper is trying to
achieve is to present the latter view as a worthy alternative to the two millennia-old mainstream.

Keywords: Платон, Сократ, Ницше, Фуко, "Федон"

Publication based on the results of: Spatial Factor in Theoretical Field of Humanities and Social Sciences (2019)