[German version] Theory of anamnesis. ‘Learning is remembering’ (ἡ μάθησις ἀνάμνησις; hē máthēsis anámnēsis) is Plato's short phrase (Men. 81e 5, Phd. 72e 5, 76a 8) for the idea of anamnesis based upon the Pythagorean belief about the soul. In the Meno, anamnesis is used as an argument against the eristic statement that one cannot inquire about anything (80d-86c). In the Phaedo, knowledge of the ideas, which cannot be empirically acquired, is seen as proof for the immortality of the soul, which viewed the ideas before entering the body (72e-77a). In the Phaedrus, conceptual thinking an…

[German version] from the Greek μαιευτική ( maieutikḗ, sc. téchnē), ‘midwifery. In Plato's dialogue Theaetetus (148e-151d) Socrates compares his ability to recognize whether or not hidden wisdom lies dormant in others, and to help them if necessary to bring it to light, with the craft of his mother, the midwife ( maía) Phaenarete, and of midwives in general, to recognize pregnancies and to help deliver the baby. It is contested whether or not the historical Socrates used this comparison but the stronger arguments speak against it. In Middle Plat…

(Σιμμίας). [German version] [1] S. from Thebes Friend of Socrates, 5th cent. BC Friend of Socrates [2] (Plat. Crit. 45b; Plat. Phdr. 242b; Xen. Mem. 1,2,48; 3,11,17); he and his companion Cebes were Socrates' main interlocutors in Plato's Phaídōn. According to Plat. Phd. 61de, before his stay in Athens S. met the Pythagorean Philolaus [2] in Thebes, but he himself was not a Pythagorean [1]. Plutarchus [2] has the conversation which is central to his work The Daimonion of Socrates (Περὶ τοῦ Σωκράτους δαιμονίου/Perì toû Sōkrátous daimoníou) take place in Thebes at the house of S., …

[German version] A. Etymology The semantic field memory/recollection can be traced back in Greek and Latin - apart from recordor and recordatio, both derivations from cor - to the Indo-European root men-. This dual etymology suggests an inner but not necessarily cognitive activity [1. 11, 20]. Baroin, Catherine (Paris) [German version] B. Greece There is a correlation between μνήμη ( mnḗmē), human memory, and Μνημοσύνη ( Mnēmosýnē ), the mother of the Muses: the Muses exist in an all-encompassing region of knowledge and truth (ἀλήθεια/ alḗtheia, is the opposite of forgetting, λήθη/ lḗt…

[German version] (Κέβης; Kébēs) from Thebes. Friend of Socrates (Pl. Crit. 45b; Xen. Mem. 1,2,48; 3,11,17); together with his companion Simmias  Socrates' main interlocutor in Plato's ‘Phaedon’. According to Pl. Phd. 61d-e, before coming to Athens C. met the Pythagorean  Philolaus in Thebes, but was himself not a Pythagorean [1]. In Diog. Laert. 2,125 three dialogues (not extant), with the titles Pínax (‘Painting), Hebdómē (‘The Seventh Day) and Phrýnichos, are attributed to C. The dialogue entitled Pínax and falsely attributed to C. was probably written during the 1st …

[German version] Since the 4th cent. the term m issa (‘mass’) has been in use in the western church for the Eucharist that is celebrated in all Christian churches, mostly on Sundays. According to the Synoptic Gospels and 1 Cor 11, this celebration goes back to Jesus himself. In the post-Apostolic period (around 100/beginning of the 2nd cent.), it is first mentioned by the Didachḗ . Iustinus [6] (around 150) refers to the bipartite nature of the church service: reading and explanation of the Holy Scriptures on the one hand, and the offering, blessing and distr…

[German version] (Greek ἀπορία [ aporía], opposite εὐπορία [ euporía], Latin dubitatio) means hopelessness, distress, embarrassment and neediness (Xen. An. 5,6,10; Hdt. 1,72,2; Thuc. 1,11,11). In the Meno, Plato adds the inability to procure necessities to the list of meanings (Cra. 415c 5; Symp. 203e, Men. 78c ff.). In Plato's dialogues, aporia describes a state of being (the experience of a need) as well as the cause for this state (the inherent philosophical problem). Aporia is the result of an elenctic conversation, i…

Krovoza, Alfred [German version] A. Prefatory Remarks (CT) Any discussion of the mnemonic tradition, i.e. its reception history, faces a dilemma. The narrow definition - an established standard in textbooks - as a mental technique to generate memoria artificialis or to optimise memoria naturalis for rhetorical practice in an oral culture (see below) excludes the greatest part of its influence, as seminal studies of the material have revealed. A wider definition, however, risks conflating mnemonics with memory in general and its manifold …

[German version] A. Definition Since K. Praechter, Middle Platonism has been the term for the period of ancient Platonism from the return of the Platonic Academy to dogmatism under Antiochus [20] of Ascalon (died 69 BC) until the beginning of Neoplatonism under Plotinus (died 270 AD; Dogmatists [1]; Neoplatonists). The term is modern, but the periodization is ancient in as far as the Neoplatonists themselves distinguished between the ‘old exegetes’ before Plotinus and the ‘new ones’ (Procl. in Pl. …

Kaminski, Nicola I. Germany (CT) [German version] A. General Definition and Systematic Preliminary Clarifications (CT) If one attempts to define the specific nature of the Romantic reception of Antiquity with regard to the preceding literary tradition in Germany, the dismissal of 'the ancients' from their previously undisputed position as an aesthetic standard stands out as the most striking innovation. The artistic and literary authority of ancient models had been challenged before Romanticism, for example in…

Mojsisch, Burkhard Summerell, Orrin F. [German version] A. Introduction (CT) Platonism refers to philosophical thinking that has its roots in Plato's writings and his school. According to Platonism the manifold world of appearances is a reflection of the unchanging world of ideas/forms. True and essential reality is the world of forms: This reality always remains identical in itself, by itself and with itself; only the intellect can perceive and investigate it. In terms of epistemology and ontology, as w…

Münkler, Herfried (Berlin RWG) Llanque, Marcus (Berlin RWG) I. General (CT) [German version] A. Cycles in the Reception of Antiquity in the History of Ideas (CT) The political thought of Antiquity had a considerable effect on the development of political theory (PT), beginning with the High Middle Ages. Many ancient political concepts found renewed use in political discourse, and the political theories of Antiquity also had a formative influence on the construction of theory itself, its systematic inquiry and the cognit…