Heidsieck, Clément
Vision in Plato’s Theaetetus and Timaeus
- 2021.
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In this paper, we propose to re-evaluate the question of the coherence of Platonic thought in the Theaetetus and the Timaeus, with regard to the theory of vision exposed in the two dialogues. Going against a recent current of interpretation that sees in Timaeus the exposition of Platonic theory and in Theaetetus the exposition and then the refutation of a generally mobilist theory, we defend not the identity of the two dialogues, but their complementary nature concerning the status of vision. To do so, we proceed to refute the main arguments mobilized against the coherence of Platonic thought, while revealing numerous points of convergence, unnoticed by commentators between the two dialogues. Establishing the complementary nature of the two dialogues subsequently allows us to clarify the place and destination of Theaetetus within the so-called late dialogues.