The Symposium and the Role of Literature for Epistemic Development

Abstract

Platoʼs dialogues are not invented to begin and end in the mind of their author. The cognitive construction of the Platonic dialogues is not meant to be a bidimensional one, given by the thought of their author and the written words that he uses to express it, but it is a tridimensional building, whose volume is given by the epistemic contributions of Platoʼs readers. Platoʼs dialogues can be read as rational stimulations of their reader, who is required to complete them with her thinking. This higher-order pedagogy is at the base of my interpretation of the use of literature in the "Symposium" as means to stimulate the engagement of Platoʼs readers. Cooperating actively with the text they become aware of their rational power. This knowledge of themselves is subsequent to a phase of epistemic discomfort, in which they recognize that the cognitive horizon which they thought to be the place for undoubtable truths was the source of controversial content.