Plato and the Socratic Dialogue
Plato and the Socratic Dialogue
$70.00
USDThis book proposes a new paradigm for the interpretation of Plato's early and middle dialogues. Rejecting the usual assumption of a distinct 'Socratic' period in the development of Plato's thought, this view regards the earlier works as deliberate preparation for the exposition of Plato's mature philosophy. Differences between the dialogues do not represent different stages in Plato's own thinking but rather different aspects and moments in the presentation of a new and unfamiliar view of reality. Once the fictional character of the Socratic genre is recognised, there is no reason to regard Plato's early dialogues as representing the philosophy of the historical Socrates. The result is a unified interpretation of all of the dialogues down to the Republic and the Phaedrus.
- Hardcover has sold over 800 in the first 11 months
- Professor Kahn's views will affect seriously the way that people will read Plato from now on
- The book combines an interesting and controversial thesis with reflections on the current state of the question
Reviews & endorsements
"This outstanding work of scholarship issues serious challenges to many of the reigning orthodoxies of Platonic studies....Strongly recommended for its originality and imaginative scholarship." J. Bussanich, Choice
"...Kahn's book has a great deal to offer besides this central argument. His account of the theory of Forms is subtle and profound. He does full justice to the role of love in Plato's thought." Jasper Griffin, New York Review of Books
"...quite rewarding." David Sider, American Journal of Philology
"The fact is that Plato and the Socratic Dialogue is a very interesting book. Its interest lies not in the analysis of methodology but in the nuanced reading of a set of ancient texts that Kahn "offer[s]...[as] a comprehensive interpretation, at once literary, historical, and philosophical, the fruit of a lifetime of reading and teaching Plato" (p. xiii). Kahn does offer a nearly comprehensive interpretation of the early and middle dialpgues. His interpretation is literary, historical, and philosophical. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, his interpretation brings out some of what is truly awe inspiring about the ancient Greek period and about Plato's contribution to this period of human development." Review of Metaphysics
Product details
June 1998Paperback
9780521648301
456 pages
228 × 152 × 24 mm
0.61kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Sokratikoi logoi: the literary and intellectual background of Plato's work
- 2. The interpretation of Plato
- 3. Socrates
- 4. Plato as a minor Socratic: Ion and Hippias Minor
- 5. Gorgias: Plato's manifesto for philosophy
- 6. The priority of definition: from Laches to Meno
- 7. Charmides and the search for beneficial knowledge
- 8. Protagoras: virtue as knowledge
- 9. The object of love
- 10. The emergence of dialectic
- 11. The presentation of the Forms
- 12. Phaedrus and the limits of writing
- Appendix
- Bibliography.
