This dialogue by Lucian appears at first sight as a dialogue between scepticism and dogmatism; more concretely it appears as a systematic and persistent attempt at the philosophical "therapy" of the dogmatic man from all his "unhealthy" beliefs. In our present text we attempt to show that finally this dialogue is Lucian΄s polemic treatise against reason and imagination, against philosophy and art, when their creations are beyond everyday life and existing social reality, and thereby constitute their negation. The ultimate purpose of this polemic is very clear: it is man΄s holding fast to an everyday life in which it is absolutely absent the uneasiness which is the result either of philosophical "utopia" or the work of art qua an image of the negation of the existing social and political reality.
Academy of Athens
