What is the Anonymous Commentary on Plato's Theaetetus?
The Anonymous Commentary on Plato's Theaetetus is a partially extant Ancient Greek philosophical text from the early Roman era. Unknown until its discovery on a single papyrus roll in 1901, it provides critical insights into Middle Platonism, discussing theories of knowledge and arguing against rival schools like the Stoics and Skeptics.
What we know
- The Anonymous Commentary on Plato's Theaetetus is classified as an anonymous commentary on a work of Plato and serves as a literary work from the early Roman era. [1, 2]
- The text was entirely unknown until the chance discovery in 1901 of a single papyrus roll dating to the middle of the 2nd century CE. [2]
- The commentary discusses major epistemological themes such as definitions of knowledge, justified true belief, and the problem of the criterion, while comparing Plato's Theaetetus to other dialogues like the Meno, Protagoras, and the Sophist. [2]
- The author provides arguments against rival philosophical schools, notably Stoicism, Academic skepticism, and Pyrrhonism, alongside an analysis of Theodorus of Cyrene's mathematical proof. [2]
Still open
- The identity of the anonymous commentator remains unknown.
Where to go next
- the bigger pictureWhat is Plato's Theaetetus about?
- how we knowHow was the 1901 papyrus roll discovered?
- compared withWhat characterizes Middle Platonism?
- whoWho was Theodorus of Cyrene?
- a case in pointWhat are Commentaries on Plato?
- an unexpected connectionHow did an ancient Greek mathematical proof survive in a philosophical papyrus?The surviving papyrus roll contains both abstract epistemological commentary and an in-depth analysis of a specific ancient mathematical proof by Theodorus of Cyrene.
Sources
- [1]Anonymous Commentary on Plato's Theaetetus (Wikidata Q134428461) · CC0 1.0
- [2]Anonymous Commentary on Plato's Theaetetus · CC BY-SA 4.0
- [3]Theaetetus (dialogue) · CC BY-SA 4.0
- [4]Symposium (Plato) · CC BY-SA 4.0
- [5]Commentaries on Plato · CC BY-SA 4.0