Reading Order And Authenticity: The Place of Theages and Cleitophon in Platonic Pedagogy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show that a reconstruction of “the reading order of Plato’s dialogues”1 can be used as the basis for a new kind of argument for the authenticity of dubia like Theages and Cleitophon.2 Certainly the unwillingness of 21st century scholars to trust dogmatic pronouncements about Plato’s intentions—on the basis of which an earlier generation could assert that this or that dialogue was “un-Platonic” or “unworthy of Plato” (Grote 1865, 430)3—has had the salutary effect of revitalizing the important question of how Plato, and thus how much of him, should be read. But despite the opening provided by this distrust where authenticity is concerned, I should emphasize from the start that a project based on reading order presupposes that Plato had discernable intentions, above all: the intention to teach and to teach well.