Ideology as a Means of Interpretation. A New Perspective of Plato
Ideology as a Means of Interpretation. A New Perspective of Plato

Summary/Abstract: Initially launched by Marx, the ideological interpretation turned off to a new track through Karl Mannheim’s “perspectivism” or “relationism”. The new perspective sought to identify the conditions of possibility of knowledge within society and to proceed towards a phenomenological analysis of ordinary life. However, Manheim’s theory sparsely resulted into text interpretations as such. This observation appears to be a good starting point especially for the first part of this paper, which intends to sketch a short history of ideology as a means of interpretation within the field of humanities. Then, once the “perspectivist” interpretation re-acknowledged and reactivated, the present endeavour moves towards an application chapter, having in view Plato’s work and the ways it can be subjected to an ideological interpretation. Hence, the rediscovery of “perspectivist” analysis may bring important changes in the ensuing perception of many theoretical constructions: ultimately, these theories are brought back to life and, no longer presented as being written by some shadow hand, they become the answers which flesh and blood individuals gave to the issues that occasionally challenged them.

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