Zerrüttender „Aufstand“ und erkenntnisfundierendes „Feststehen“

Zur Bedeutungsvielfalt und Entwicklung des Begriffes stásis bei Platon und anderen Autoren

Abstract

First, this article will explore the multiple meanings of the word stásis in Plato’s dialogues: Not only does it denote something like “uprising” (in the psyché, the “soul”, or a polity), but it also designates a central ontological genre – “standing” or “position” is fundamental for knowledge (Plato, Sophist 249c). Then, after a brief look at the later philosophical tradition, in which the wide range of meanings of the word stásis persists, the works of two authors prior to Plato, Solon and Euripides, are considered. The statesman and poet Solon spoke of the upheavals in the community in his elegies. In the famous Eunomia Elegy he addresses the corrupt mind of the citizens, which leads to stásis and war. Euripides repeatedly has the characters in his tragedies speak of strife, especially in the play Heracles, in which stásis is described as a phenomenon of illness. Both authors undoubtedly had an impact on Plato’s thinking about stásis