Il Critone di Platone: per una interpretazione unitaria

This research defines the statu quaestionis of the historiographical and philosophical debate about the Crito discussing the whole route of critical studies from the 19th century up to our days. According to the survey, this work is thought to date back to the central stage of Plato’s maturity and to be subsequent to the Phaedo, since the concept of the ideal nÒmoj as a model for the human nÒmoj has been emphasized; Plato develops a philosophical-metaphysical reflection, placing the Crito close to his maturity works on the one hand and to the meditation both on laws and the divine, natural and positive right on the other hand, expressed in works like the Republic, the Politician, the Laws. In the discussion about the question of the relationship between the Crito and the Apology, beyond the objective elements of continuity between the two works, especially the differences between each other have been emphasized, which make these texts two distinct and separate things, as concerns content and chronology. Furtherly, this study has pointed out the rhetorical style of the Crito, aiming at laying stress both on the historical and especially the symbolic character of Socrates. Starting from the concept of a right – emphasized in the Crito - as universal Justice, that is an ideal model, paradigmatic of the positive right, it is possible to follow a long historical route that throughout the ancient world originated from this Platonic starting point.