Daniel Shirley

The myths of Plato have been inordinately subordinated to the “intellect” of Plato since the eighteen-thirties. The ancient Christian tradition of interpreting stories and scriptures with symbolic understanding serves as a potentially primary hermeneutical pattern that could correct the modern tendency of subconscious materialism. To restore the Platonic myths, there are two foundational arguments to be made about the myths. The first is that these myths are kenotic in function. Observing the Socratic call to self-emptying, especially in the cosmological image of the World Axis, challenges modern assumptions concerning the second goodness of Platonic myth. The second argument is the theme of beauty-first in the Platonic tradition as demonstrated by the myths. To become a philosopher, the student must not only engage in acts of virtue through habit but also love wisdom. Through a close analysis of several images in Plato’s three eschatological myths: Gorgias, Phaedo, and the Myth of Er, these two elements of the Platonic tradition (kenosis, and beauty-first) elevate the role of the philosopher’s myth to equal with the philosopher’s argumentation.