An important argument in favour of recognising the cultural relativism and against universality of dignity and human rights, is the claim that the concept of dignity is a genuinely modern one. An analysis of a passage from the Demiurge’s speech in Timaeus reveals that Plato devoted time to reflecting on the question of what determines the qualitative difference between certain beings (gods and human being) and the world of things, and what forms the basis for the special treatment of these beings – issues that using the language of today can be described reasonably as dignity. The attributes of this form of dignity seem to overlap with the nature of dignity as we know it today. Moreover, Plato proposes a response both to the question of what dignity is like, as well as the question of what dignity is. It is existential perfection, rooted in a perfect manner of existence, based on a specific internal unity of being. Dignity is therefore primordial in regard to particular features and independent of their acquisition or loss. Plato’s approach allows him to postulate that people be treated as ends in themselves; an approach therefore that prohibits the treatment of people as objects. Both the state and law are ultimately subordinated to the good of the individual, rather than the individual to the good of the state.

The Romantic Myth of Meistersang. Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Plato’s Concept of ‘Furor Divinus’

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is a masterpiece that over the course of 160 years since its world premiere has accumulated impressive literature on the subject. Wagner’s composition carries numerous meanings – ideological, philosophical, historical, not to mention purely musical. In this article, the author, first focusing on the ‘myth’ of the Renaissance Nuremberg, so important for German identity, finally arrives at the concept of ‘furor divinus’, which perfectly fits the idealized image of that city. The Platonic ‘furor divinus’ proposed by Wagner, was inspired by an article by Gustav Schilling, published for the first time in 1835. The author of this paper interprets that concept as a complex process in four stages: ‘enthusiasm of the heart’, devising the original idea, true inspiration, and work on a new work.