Interpretation of Myths – Proclus on the Republic Essay 5 and 6

Commentary on the Republic: Achilles' Theurgy Yitzchok Lowy and I discuss Proclus' explanation of why Achilles drags Hector's body and kills Trojan captives as part of Patroclus' funeral…

Commentary on the Republic: On the apparent avarice and impiety of the heroes Yitzchok Lowy and I discuss Proclus' explanations of why, despite Socrates' objections Homer does not…

Commentary on the Republic: the Intellectual Sources of Life and the Creation of the Cosmos I correct some inaccuracies in my account of Rhea and Hera from last…

Commentary on the Republic: Seduction on Mt. Ida Yitzchok Lowy and I complete the discussion of the seduction of Zeus on Mt. Ida, including the meaning of sexual…

Commentary on the Republic: Laughter, Moderation and Sex Yitzchok Lowy and I finish the discussion of divine laughter, move on to passages where Homeric heros seem to lose…

Commentary on the Republic: The Tears of the Gods in this class, we wrap up the discussion of the.myths of the Afterlife and read through Proclus' account of…

Commentary on the Republic: Terrors of the Afterlife we wrap up the conversation on the sending of false dreams by the gods and start Proclus' Commentary on both…

Commentary on the Republic: the Good is more powerful than the Truth in this class we begin to discuss Proclus' defense of Homer in the case of Zeus's…

Commentary on the Republic: The Shape of the Gods we discuss Proclus' account of what it means when the gods appear in specific shapes and change shape in…

Commentary on the Republic: Divine Provocation to Punishment we finish the discussion of the temptation of Pandarus and return to the issue of Zeus calling the gods to…

Commentary on the Republic: Evil in Myth in this class we discuss two problematic passages in Homer, from Socrates' point of view: the description of Zeus as having…

Commentary on the Republic: Daimones at war we look into how Proclus applies his way of explaining conflicts of the gods to Homer, saying that the gods are…

Commentary on the Republic: Wars amongst the Gods in this class we go over Prolcus' allegorical interpretation of war/dissension amongst the goss in myths. He gives 2 (maybe…

Commentary on the Republic: Allegorical Interpretation of Myths continuing the discussion

Commentary on the Republic: Every Myth has a Daimonic Surface we continue the discussion of the principles of mythical obscenity and the Platonic prooftext for justifying allegorical interpretation…

Commentary on the Republic: Harmonizing Plato with Plato we start the sixth essay, on harmonizing the Plato that criticizes poets with the Plato that quotes them as authorities,…

Commentary on the Republic: the purpose of poetry and the cosmic poet we finish essay 5, discussing Proclus' account of what the telos of poetry is and who…

Commentary on the Republic: Philosophy and the Muses we discuss question 5 of the the fifth essay, on the different kinds of Mousike and the relationship between philosophy…

Commentary on The Republic: Questions 3 and 4

Commentary on the Republic: Expiation of Passions and Descent of the Soul we continue reading the fifth essay, this time dealing with Proclus' views ok tragedy and his…

Commentary on the Republic: Mimesis and Variety we start our new reading course on Proclus' Commentary on Plato's Republic, specifically on the 5th and 6th essays. We start…