Plato's Guest in Socio-Symbolic Games of Similarities and Differences

The article attempts to show the implicit philosophical meanings of the presence of the "guest" in Plato's dialogues (mainly in "Sophist"). In the first part, a conceptual research toolkit is developed. Based on the basic opposition "Us vs. Them," more nuanced ones are introduced – "Them among Us vs. Us among Them" and "Other in Me vs. Me in Other." The author argues that these oppositions work in the context of sociosymbolic games of similarities and differences, where a person's position in the social field is mobile, and its fixation is temporary, although it may turn out to be fatal. It is also shown that the social practices of complex societies require a diversity of social positions, and these positions cannot be reduced to a basic "Us vs. Them" opposition. In the second part, the study realizes its main purpose based on the interpretation of the relevant fragments of Plato's "Sophist." The interpretation of the Russian Platonist I. Protopopova is preliminarily critically examined. On the one hand, this interpretation ("stranger," "guest," a philosopher as such, a thinker, a foreigner everywhere) seems reasonable and productive. On the other hand, this "romanticization" of the philosopher's figure only partially corresponds to the ancient understanding of the philosopher included in social practices or to a certain (rather high) degree of participation in polis and philosophy, which tends away from the position of an "idiot." An alternative interpretation proposes that the "guest" serves as a necessary figure for philosophy, particularly if philosophy is viewed as an intellectual practice that transcends various forms of mental crystallization. As an example of such a practice, where a "guest" like Other is extremely necessary, the modern Socratic dialogue is given, which is mainly used in the development of philosophical, intellectual, and communicative skills.