Platonic dialogues, being among the most important texts of European philosophy, are literary masterpieces as well. These aspects (coexistence of philosophy and literary form) explain each other and they can give us adequate understanding of Plato’s conception only considered mutually. As a philosopher Plato is studied pretty well, so it seems to be useful to take a look at him as a writer and use the results of such a research for better understanding of his philosophical conceptions and his works in its entirety. The Platonic dialogue as subspecies of the Socratic dialogue derives from the carnival culture and is deeply connected with folklore in general. Platonic dialogues have also common genre features with Menippean satire (genre of Apuleius, Petronius and Lucian). These two genres are being compared in our work. Our research is based on M. Bakhtin’s and O. Freidenberg’s works.

Carnivalesque attitude, Mime, Satire, Philosophy, Platonic dialogue