The causality of the Good in the Simile of the Sun of Plato’s Republic

Authors

Keywords:

Plato, Republic, Good, Idea, Form, cause

Abstract

The paper points out an issue in the history of interpretation of the Simile of Sun in Plato's Republic. The issue rests on the meaning attributed by the scholars to the terms “eînai” and “ousía” in the passage Rep. 509b. Far from being a narrow problem of translation, the point is vital, because it determines the extent of the causality which platonic Socrates attributes to the Idea of Good with respect to the other Ideas. The paper presents the main exegetic positions on that subject assumed in the scholarship in XX and XXI centuries. Afterward, it makes a criticism to some of the main solutions presented by the scholars, showing which position is compatible with Plato's text.

Author Biography

Andre Luiz Braga da Silva, Universidade de São Paulo

André L. Braga da Silva is researcher on the ancient Greek philosophy, mainly on Parmenides', Heraclitus', Plato's, Aristotle's and Antisthenes' works. Braga was Graduate in Philosophy at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, 2003), Master in Philosophy at Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU, 2012) and PhD at University of São Paulo (USP, 2017). He has experience in teaching Philosophy at University of State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Braga had the oportunity of representing Brazil in the last symposia of the International Society for Socratic Studies - ISSS (Buenos Aires, 2018) and the International Plato Society - IPS (Brasilia, 2016, and Paris, 2019), of which he is active member. The subjects of his research are especially: Ancient Philosophy, General Philosophy, Aesthetics and Philosophy of the Art, Ethics and Politic Philosophy, Metaphysics and Ontology, Dialectics, Plato, Aristotle, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Sophists, Antisthenes, Method of Division and Dialectical Method, Theory of Ideas (and its criticism in the Antiquity), Idea of Good, Cross-examining Analysis of Philosophy and Literature. 

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Hypnos 55

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2025-10-08

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No. 55 (2025)

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