Plato the Myth Maker

by Brisson, Luc; Naddaf, Gerard

• ISBN13: 9780226075181
• ISBN10: 0226075184
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

The word myth is commonly thought to mean a fictional story, but few know that Plato was the first to use the term muthos in that sense. He also used muthos to describe the practice of making and telling stories, the oral transmission of all that a community keeps in its collective memory. In the first part of Plato the Myth Maker, Luc Brisson reconstructs Plato's multifaceted description of muthos in light of the latter's Atlantis story. The second part of the book contrasts this sense of myth with another form of speech that Plato believed was far superior: the logos of philosophy.

Table of Contents

Translator's Introduction	vii
A Note on the Translation	liv
List of Abbreviations	iv
Preface to the Second Edition	3	(2)
Preface to the First Edition	5	(2)
Introduction	7	(6)
PART I PLATO'S TESTIMONY: The Communication of the Memorable	13	(74)
Information	17	(8)
Means of Transmission	25	(15)
Fabrication	40	(9)
Narration	49	(13)
Reception	62	(4)
Imitation	66	(9)
Persuasion	75	(12)
PART II PLATO'S CRITIQUE: The Discourse of and for the Other	87	(48)
Myth as Discourse	89	(2)
The Opposition between Myth and Falsifiable Discourse	91	(21)
The Opposition between Myth and Argumentative Discourse	112	(4)
The Utility of Myth	116	(6)
The Repudiation of Allegorical Interpretation	122	(6)
Plato's Derivative Use of the Term ``Muthos''	128	(7)
Conclusion	135	(6)
Appendixes	141	(18)
Bibliography	159	(10)
Index of Passages Cited or Mentioned	169	(14)
Index of Greek Terms	183	(2)
General Index	185