Books by Lorenzo Giovannetti
Series
Dynamis. Il pensiero antico e la sua tradizione: studi e testi
Editorial Board
Francesco ... more Series
Dynamis. Il pensiero antico e la sua tradizione: studi e testi
Editorial Board
Francesco Aronadio, Bruno Centrone, Franco Ferrari, Francesco Fronterotta,
Fiorinda Li Vigni
Scientific Board
Rachel Barney, Cristina D’Ancona, Christoph Helmig, Irmgard
Männlein-Robert, Pierre-Marie Morel, Lidia Palumbo, Gretchen Reydams-
Schils, Barbara Sattler, Mauro Serra, Amneris Roselli, Mauro Tulli,
Gherardo Ugolini
This volume presents a new reading of how ontology and language intertwine in Plato’s thought. The main idea is that the structure of reality determines how language works. Conversely, analysing Plato’s view on language is key to understanding his ontology. This work first focuses on Plato’s standard theory of Forms and the plurality of functions they perform with regard to thought, knowledge and language. The volume then provides a detailed interpretation of the first definition of episteme as perception in Plato’s Theaetetus, which is ultimately said to make language impossible. The main argument is that basic linguistic acts such as reference and predication rely on fundamental ontological grounds. Finally, the critique of the Theaetetus is connected to the complex account of true and false logoi in the Sophist. The result is a new interpretation of how language is connected to the ontology of kinds put forward in the Sophist, with particular regard to the nature of the kind Being. This book provides a detailed exegetical investigation into a crucial aspect of Plato’s thought, which can also be of interest to those working in metaphysics and philosophy of language.
The publication is Open Access thanks to the generous support of the IISF:
https://www.iisf.it/index.php/pubblicazioni-iisf/edizioni-iisf-press/eidos-and-dynamis-the-intertwinement-of-being-and-logos-in-plato-s-thought.html
Dynamis. Il pensiero antico e la sua tradizione: studi e testi
Editorial Board
Francesco Aronadio, Bruno Centrone, Franco Ferrari, Francesco Fronterotta,
Fiorinda Li Vigni
Scientific Board
Rachel Barney, Cristina D’Ancona, Christoph Helmig, Irmgard
Männlein-Robert, Pierre-Marie Morel, Lidia Palumbo, Gretchen Reydams-
Schils, Barbara Sattler, Mauro Serra, Amneris Roselli, Mauro Tulli,
Gherardo Ugolini
This volume presents a new reading of how ontology and language intertwine in Plato’s thought. The main idea is that the structure of reality determines how language works. Conversely, analysing Plato’s view on language is key to understanding his ontology. This work first focuses on Plato’s standard theory of Forms and the plurality of functions they perform with regard to thought, knowledge and language. The volume then provides a detailed interpretation of the first definition of episteme as perception in Plato’s Theaetetus, which is ultimately said to make language impossible. The main argument is that basic linguistic acts such as reference and predication rely on fundamental ontological grounds. Finally, the critique of the Theaetetus is connected to the complex account of true and false logoi in the Sophist. The result is a new interpretation of how language is connected to the ontology of kinds put forward in the Sophist, with particular regard to the nature of the kind Being. This book provides a detailed exegetical investigation into a crucial aspect of Plato’s thought, which can also be of interest to those working in metaphysics and philosophy of language.
The publication is Open Access thanks to the generous support of the IISF:
https://www.iisf.it/index.php/pubblicazioni-iisf/edizioni-iisf-press/eidos-and-dynamis-the-intertwinement-of-being-and-logos-in-plato-s-thought.html
Special Issues and Edited Volumes by Lorenzo Giovannetti
Volume funded by the EU and the Regione Lazio within the project CELO. Conoscenza e Educazione al... more Volume funded by the EU and the Regione Lazio within the project CELO. Conoscenza e Educazione al contrasto del Linguaggio dell'Odio
https://celo.education/progetto/
https://celo.education/progetto/
Thaumazein vol 11 No. 1, 2023
The notions of reality and knowledge are among the main topics of philosophical reflection since ... more The notions of reality and knowledge are among the main topics of philosophical reflection since its Greek inception. It has become a topos in the history of Western philosophy that some sort of crucial change occurred in the early modernity and that this change marked a fundamental shift from ancient and medieval conceptions. This special issue deals with two interrelated questions. First, it addresses some aspects of how early modern thinkers are inspired by ancient sources or distance themselves from ancient conceptions. Second, it provides some insights into how the relation between ontology and epistemology dramatically changed, by giving new impulse to relevant subjects, such as the ontology of relations or of mathematics, innatism, and so forth. In order to provide a conceptual framework to these insights, we define the dynamics between reality and knowledge in terms of cohesion and rupture. A relation of cohesion between reality and knowledge implies that knowing what reality is in itself is a condition for defining knowledge in general. On the contrary, to assume a rupture between reality and knowledge means defining knowledge independently of what reality is in itself. These two stances, we argue, are represented by Plato and Kant, respectively. Thus, the two philosophers provide the boundaries of the present investigation, but our conceptual framework can be applied even beyond Kant in order to provide a guideline in our continuous dialogue with ancient philosophers.
Papers by Lorenzo Giovannetti
Humanamente , 2025
The aim of this paper is to address the philosophical significance of Plato's use of the metaphor... more The aim of this paper is to address the philosophical significance of Plato's use of the metaphor of blindness, particularly regarding knowledge and cognition. To begin with, I shall summarise key arguments concerning blindness in Disability Studies. It will emerge that blindness is significantly employed to express ignorance or lack of knowledge due to the current ocularcentric prejudice, i.e. the view that sight is the most important sense. After a brief contextualisation of traditional ocularcentrism embedded in ancient Greek culture, I shall turn to analysing some occurrences of the metaphor of blindness from Book VI and VII of Plato's Republic. The study reveals how Plato's use of the metaphor of blindness in Book VI serves to make subtle epistemological points, such as differentiating knowledge from a cognitive state that only happens to be true. In Book VII, focusing on the famous simile of the Cave, the paper shows that Plato deliberately establishes a complex symmetry between metaphorical and literal blindness: to overcome one's lack of knowledge (metaphorical blindness), one needs to be, temporarily and partly, blind to perceptible things (literal blindness). The striking outcome of this view is that, due to Plato's ocularcentric framework, blindness provides him with the argumentative tool that opens the field of enquiry into the nature of knowledge and its objects.
Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie
In this paper I address a very precise question emerging from Plato's Sophist: what is the relati... more In this paper I address a very precise question emerging from Plato's Sophist: what is the relation between the nature of images and the way declarative statements function? The scholarship has either moved from the assumption that both true and false statements are images of different types or asserted that this assumption is not convincing. I will give a twofold argument. Firstly, I will provide a novel account of the pros and cons of associating images and statements, concluding that for Plato if statements are false, they are images, whereas if true, they are not images. Secondly, I will discuss whether true statements are non-imagistic representations and argue that there is room for thinking that Plato has a very peculiar theory of truth such that true statements do not just represent reality or being, but rather they make being manifest to the thinking soul.
Archivio di Filosofia XCII, 2024
Towards an Archeology of the Conceptual: Some Remarks on Theaet. 184-187 · In this essay, the not... more Towards an Archeology of the Conceptual: Some Remarks on Theaet. 184-187 · In this essay, the notions of conceptualism and non-conceptualism are briefly introduced. The former argues that conceptual resources necessary to formulate judgments are already deployed by perception. The latter argues that perceptual experience is rich enough to have a content regardless of one’s conceptual resources. Subsequently, I show that in the interpretation of a fundamental passage of Plato’s Theaetetus (184-187), scholarship has settled on two interpretative options that
bear significant similarity to the conceptualist and non-conceptualist theses. In the essay, I offer a new interpretation of the passage, showing that Plato is developing an argument whose philosophical significance is much deeper than the content of perception – namely, the independence of reality from perception. Finally, I argue that for Plato reality is connected to thought, and reality’s independence is what makes it possible to formulate judgments about it.
bear significant similarity to the conceptualist and non-conceptualist theses. In the essay, I offer a new interpretation of the passage, showing that Plato is developing an argument whose philosophical significance is much deeper than the content of perception – namely, the independence of reality from perception. Finally, I argue that for Plato reality is connected to thought, and reality’s independence is what makes it possible to formulate judgments about it.
Time and Astronomy in Plato's Timaeus 9 Daniel Vázquez 3 The Instant (ἐξαίφνης) in Plato's Parmen... more Time and Astronomy in Plato's Timaeus 9 Daniel Vázquez 3 The Instant (ἐξαίφνης) in Plato's Parmenides 155e4-157b5 31 Luc Brisson 4 Time, Being and Language in Plato's Timaeus 47 Lorenzo Giovannetti
Lo Sguardo n. 34 , 2022
Dialectics and the Good. a Discussion of Sarah Broadie, Plato's sun-like Good. In this paper, I d... more Dialectics and the Good. a Discussion of Sarah Broadie, Plato's sun-like Good. In this paper, I discuss the key aspects of S. Broadie's Plato's Sun-like Good. In a nutshell, she argues that the nature of the Good in Plato's Republic is interrogative, i.e. it can only be grasped by raising the question `is it good?'. This leads Broadie to argue that dialectic is essentially practical reasoning and that its results are context-relative. In this paper, I introduce the key texts from the Republic and, after expounding Broadie's view, I raise some issues concerning her reading, particularly against the idea that dialectic is fallible qua context-relative, and against the view that being Forms receive from the Good is the same as their empirical implementation.
Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica, 2022
This paper deals with Plato's treatment of the metaphysical and epistemological status of mimesis... more This paper deals with Plato's treatment of the metaphysical and epistemological status of mimesis in Republic 10. A new interpretation of the distinction between form, instrument and imitation is provided. A key role is played by the concept of use. The paper's central idea is that what differentiates the products of real artisans from the products of painters and poets is that only the former can be used and this is on account of their relation to the form. Accordingly, if this is true, without forms one could not actually distinguish the real difference between material instruments and their imitation. As a result, the paper shows that the critique of mimesis sheds light on a fundamental trait of Plato's conception of sensible particulars.
The Trial Analogy. The Object-Centeredness of Theaetetus 200e-201c
Ancient Philosophy
I analyse Theaet. 200e-201c. I hold that this passage provides specific insights into: first, the... more I analyse Theaet. 200e-201c. I hold that this passage provides specific insights into: first, the nature of sensible things and events; second, the nature of knowledge. I show that the text should be taken as an analogy, which means that Plato does not consider eye-witnessing to be a case of knowledge. Finally, I consider the relation between the trial analogy and the dialogue as a whole.
Plato’s Parmenides Selected Papers of the Twelfth Symposium Platonicum Herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Luc Brisson, Dr. Arnaud Macé, Dr. Olivier Renaut
The paper first analyses the seventh series of deductions (D7) in the second part of the Parmenid... more The paper first analyses the seventh series of deductions (D7) in the second part of the Parmenides. The starting-point of D7 is that without the One, the others differ from one another. The reciprocal differentiation between the many others produces masses. These masses are indeterminate because of the absence of the One. This means at least two things: a) there is no end in dividing a mass; b) masses appear to be different at different times. The text goes on to explain the way masses appear to be different at different times. Parmenides does not disambiguate whether the argument is about quantities or qualities, thereby suggesting it is about both of them. Thereafter, the paper summarises philosophically relevant arguments that can be drawn from the text. First, reciprocal differentiation is the ontological basis of the notion of appearance in such a way that self-differentiation, indeterminacy and appearance are conceptually connected. Second, masses resemble concrete particulars, which without the One lose every proper determination. Third, one can never find intelligible unity in physically dividing concrete particulars in space and time. Fourth, the overall argument suggests that the One is what the others are different from as well as what provides them with unity. Finally, it seems that D7 deduces the consequences for the many in absence of the One with regard to the other, i.e. the One.
Elenchos
In this paper, I provide an interpretation of the symploke ton eidon at Soph. 259e. My goal is to... more In this paper, I provide an interpretation of the symploke ton eidon at Soph. 259e. My goal is to show that the specific metaphysical view expressed by the interweaving of forms best accounts for Plato’s explanation of truth and falsehood. In the first section, I introduce the fundamentals of the interpretation of the greatest kinds and their functions. After that, I propose an interpretation of the assertion at 259e, the upshot of which is that the interweaving of forms only deals with extra-linguistic items, that it is related to both truth and meaning of linguistic items, in a very complex way which I aim to explain throughout the paper, and that it never involves sensible particulars. In the second section, I put forward my reading of the Stranger’s description of how logoi are structured and how they work. I pay particular attention to the view that words reveal being when they intertwine to form a statement. In the third section, I interpret the statements concerning Theaetetu...
Synthesis. Journal for Philosophy
Metaphysical Realism is commonly understood as the view that reality is independent of what one t... more Metaphysical Realism is commonly understood as the view that reality is independent of what one thinks or believes about it. To better understand the notion of independence deployed by metaphysical realists, I consider two very influential critiques from Putnam and Dummett. Thereafter, I show that Plato's view on reality and the mind does not share the assumptions that are considered to be unacceptable by Putnam and Dummett. Thus, I go on to analyse a passage from the Cratylus that clearly shows (i) that Plato puts forward a view that we would uncontroversially consider as realist; and (ii) that in this view, the concept of error plays a pivotal role. Finally, I provide the outline of an alternative view on metaphysical realism, inspired by Plato's line of thought, in terms of reality enjoying a priority over representation/belief.
Estetica. Studi e Ricerche, 2021
Theatre and Truth in Books III and V of Plato's Republic The paper puts forward a detailed analys... more Theatre and Truth in Books III and V of Plato's Republic The paper puts forward a detailed analysis of some passages from book III and V of Plato's Republic. The aim of the paper is to understand the inner relation between theatre and world, which are closely linked. From book III, it emerges that poetry is essentially related to telling or enacting events. From book V, it emerges that this is quite a different matter from getting in contact with what is fully real. The main finding of the paper is that Plato consistently makes use of theatre as a way to illustrate the nature of human experience.
Variazioni sul tema del vedere. Saggi sui verba videndi nella Grecità classica, 2021
Il volume è stato pubblicato con il contributo dell'Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"
A cura di LORENZO GIOVANNETTI BIBLIOPOLIS Il volume è stato pubblicato con il contributo dell'Uni... more A cura di LORENZO GIOVANNETTI BIBLIOPOLIS Il volume è stato pubblicato con il contributo dell'Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"