Authority and Authoritative Texts in the Platonist Tradition

All disciplines can count on a noble founder, and the representation of this founder as an authority is key in order to construe a discipline's identity. This book sheds light on how Plato and other authorities were represented in one of the most long-lasting traditions of all time. It leads the reader through exegesis and polemics, recovery of the past and construction of a philosophical identity. From Xenocrates to Proclus, from the sceptical shift to the re-establishment of dogmatism, from the Mosaic of the Philosophers to the Neoplatonist Commentaries, the construction of authority emerges as a way of access to the core of the Platonist tradition.

'The volume is a success. It addresses problems about conceptions of authority, a topic that is rightly seeing growing interest by historians of philosophy, in the diverse yet cognate contexts of the Platonic tradition. Its contributions are engaging and provoke thought on a wide range of material.' Peter Osorio, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 'The importance of this volume goes far beyond the field of Platonic studies.' Olga Alieva, Méthexis

Michael Erler is Professor ordinarius of Classical Philology at the Julius-Maximilian-Universität Würzburg. He is the author of several books and articles on Plato, Platonism, Epicurus and the Epicurean tradition, drama, and Hellenistic and Imperial literature. Jan Erik Heßler is a Lecturer in the Department of Classics at the Julius-Maximilian-Universität Würzburg. He has published an edition of Epicurus's Letter to Menoeceus (2014), and co-edited Argument und literarische Form in antiker Philosophie (2013), as well as publishing numerous articles on the Platonic and Epicurean tradition. Federico M. Petrucci is Professor of Ancient Philosophy in Turin. His main research areas are Plato and the Platonist Tradition and his publications include the first English translation of the texts of the Platonist Taurus of Beirut (2018).