Platon

by François Châtelet

"Qui se tourne vers le fondateur de l'Académie rencontre bientôt une résistance surprenante et se voit contraint d'entrer en dialogue. Platon ne saurait être constitué ni en "curiosité archéologique", ni en écrivain prétexte. C'est de nous qu'il parle, de l'homme en proie à la triple problématique caractéristique de son destin, de l'individu qui cherche la satisfaction, du citoyen qui veut la justice, de l'esprit qui réclame le savoir ; et sa parole retentit singulièrement parce qu'elle émane d'un temps et d'un lieu d'origine où furent prises, dans des circonstances exceptionnelles, des décisions qui, désormais et quelques inventions qui furent faites depuis, déterminent notre culture." François Châtelet.

Genres: Philosophy

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

François Châtelet (27 April 1925 – 26 December 1985) was a french philosopher, historian of philosophy, political philosophy and professor in the socratic tradition. He was the husband of philosopher Noëlle Châtelet, the sister of Lionel Jospin.

Along with Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, he is at the origin of the department of philosophy at the University of Vincennes, and co-founded the Collège international de philosophie (International College of Philosophy). In 1971 he was professor at the University of São Paulo. This was an act of protest that he made with Jean-Pierre Vernant against the Brazilian military dictatorship. Châtelet has always been concerned with linking thought and action, engaging in a restless combat with his contemporaries.

His conception of philosophy makes him more of a historian of philosophy than a philosopher. In his work Une histoire de la raison (A History of Reason), he shows the role of philosophy in the constitution of modern Western rationality. His work Platon (Plato) is a formidable invitation-initiation to the thought of the ancient Greek philosopher.