Plato and the Image: alleviating the tension between theory and method

The departing point of this research is a paradox that has often been noted in the philosophical literature on Plato with regards to his stance towards images. The paradox concerns the evident clash between Plato’s critique of the image in Book Χ of the Republic and the recurrent use of descriptive images in platonic dialogues at points of utmost importance with regards to Plato’s philosophical aims. The purpose of this research is to alleviate the supposed paradox: i.e., to illustrate that Plato’s theorizing of the image and his methodic use of descriptive images are (a) fully consistent and (b) point to an overall conception of the nature of the image and its cognitive value that is both more lenient and more elaborate than the one commonly attributed to him -in the philosophy of art and beyond- on the grounds of solely Book X. The research will employ insights from contemporary philosophy of depiction to foreground those aspects of the image that seem to allow a Janus-faced function with regards to the aim of knowledge: i.e. its inherent selectivity, its capacity for structural mapping, and its reliance on active engagement for the representational relation to be accurately traced. Focusing on the Republic, it will be shown that it is these aspects that ground the cognitive function of the descriptive images (thus justifying their use on cognitive grounds) but also that it is those very aspects that Plato draws attention to in Book X, in order to develop a contextual critique of the image – rather than a diagnosis of its nature and value tout court, as commonly assumed.