The axiology of the smooth and the rugged: interpretation of the visual philosopheme from the “Phaedo”

The article is devoted to the identification and description of a speculative innovation that was clearly formed in Plato, which we designate as “the axiology of the smooth and the rugged.” According to this speculative innovation, smoothness is seen as a sign of perfection - as understood by Plato and the philosophers who influenced him - and the opposite characteristics of smoothness, such as ruggedness or roughness, as the absence of this perfection. The “axiology of the smooth and the rugged” is first explicitly stated in the passage about the “true Earth” from the “Phaedo”, as a part of Socrates’ visualization of the afterworld awaiting philosophizing souls after death (Pl. Phaed. 110a-e). The fantastic landscape from the “Phaedo” contains descriptions of smooth, transparent and beautifully colored stones and mountains, as well as a description of the Earth as a “sphere of twelve pentagons” (dodecahedron), equally beautifully coloured. The article undertakes an analysis of all of the listed visual signs of perfection, with an emphasis on their connection with smoothness. Despite the fact that highlighting the special status of smoothness is Plato’s innovation, we present it as part of a more ancient speculative field, which include (i) the special status of the “perfectly rounded Sphere” in Parmenides, (ii) Heraclitean ontologization of precious materials (gold) and (iii) early Pythagorean ideas related to the special status of the dodecahedron. A distinction is made between this field and the ideas of Empedocles and Democritus that do not belong to it. All visual elements of the “true Earth” are presented as visual philosophy and their interpretation as “metaphors” is criticized. At the end, an outline is made of possible applications of the “axiology of smooth and rugged” in the interpretation of various phenomena in the history of philosophy and visual culture. Although there are countless interpretations of the “Phaedo”, analyzes of the visual component of the myth of the afterlife are very rare, and among them there is not a single one that draws attention to the importance of smoothness. Accordingly, our analysis is being done for the first time.