All philosophy is a footnote to Plato. No other person so shaped the Western world and the way we think about it. Plato’s questions remain as real for us today as they were 2500 years ago, and as human beings, we can not avoid their presence nor shirk our responsibility to attempt to answer them: What is Justice? What is Truth? What is Beauty? What kind of society should we build? How do we know what we know? Plato For Beginners introduces the reader to Socrates, Plato’s mentor whose martyrdom led Plato to formulate a new system of knowledge based on reason. Socrates was found guilty and sentenced to death for refusing to recognize the gods of the State and for introducing other divinities. He was also found guilty of corrupting youth. Plato For Beginners also covers the history of Greece as well as the life and ideas of this great philosopher and his influence over time, from early Christianity to the 20th Century. The reader learns what he meant by Truth, Beauty, and the Good. Classical dialogues such as Symposium, Phaedo, The Apology, and The Republic are all explored in the context of his time and our own.
“PLATO IS GENERALLY regarded as the most brilliant speculative mind the West has produced. Some philosophers have preferred the greater patience and methodical procedure of Aristotle, Aquinas, or more recent analytic philosophy; others have argued that the Platonic vision did not do justice to our intuitions of duration and existence; but no one will ever deny the continuing inspiration that Western philosophy has gained from Plato....”—Prof. Robert S. Brumbaugh, Introduction Originally published in 1962 and the first comprehensive work of its kind since Alfred Edward Taylor’s Plato in 1908, Professor Robert S. Brumbaugh’s Plato for the Modern Age represents a one-volume introduction to Plato’s biography and includes a complete account of his works. Plato for the Modern Age, like Plato’s life and works, is divided into three major periods: a youthful commitment to philosophical inquiry and its defense, a mature systematic vision, and a final careful criticism and application of the system Plato had envisaged. For each of these main periods, Prof. Brumbaugh first introduces Plato at different stages of his career, and provides an account of the dialogues he wrote: the characters who enact these dramatic intellectual conversations and confrontations, the theme they explore with its major variations, and “some internal evidence that our biographical notions are correct in assumptions such as that a visit to Tarentum would have led to new confidence in mathematics, one to Syracuse to less confidence in unprincipled dictatorship.” Plato for the Modern Age was designed as an introductory text for the beginner student of philosophy, and it will also greatly appeal to the general reader.
In Philosophy as Agôn: A Study of Plato's Gorgias and Related Texts, Robert Metcalf offers a fresh interpretation of Plato's dialogues as dramatic texts whose philosophy is not so much a matter of doctrine as it is a dynamic, nondogmatic, and open-ended practice of engaging others in agonistic dialogue. Metcalf challenges prevailing interpretations according to which the agôn (contest or struggle) between the interlocutors in the dialogues is inessential to Plato's philosophical purpose, or simply a reflection of the cultural background of ancient Greek life. Instead, he argues that Plato understands philosophy as essentially agonistic—involving the adversarial engagement of others in dialogue such that one's integrity is put to the test through this engagement, and where the agôn is structured so as to draw adversaries together in agreement about the matters at issue, though that agreement is always open to future contest. Based on a careful reading of the Gorgias and related Socratic dialogues, such as Apology and Theaetetus, Metcalf contends that agôn is indispensable to the critique of prevailing opinions, to the transformation of the interlocutor through shame-inducing refutation, and to philosophy as a lifelong training (askêsis) of oneself in relation to others.
Truth and Wonder is an accessible introduction to Plato and Aristotle, showing their crucial influence for literary and cultural studies, modern languages and related disciplines. It focusses on both what Plato and Aristotle say about literature and how they say it, and so demonstrates the ways their philosophies still shape our reading, thinking and living. In the clear and engaging style for which he has become known, Robert Eaglestone uses Plato and Aristotle’s literary qualities to explain their thought. He presents Plato’s ideas through the metaphors, stories and style of his dialogues, and Aristotle’s ideas through the significance of narrative. Truth and Wonder draws on a wide range of thinkers including Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida and Martha Nussbaum, and a number of canonical writers including Phillip Sidney, Percy Shelley, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Iris Murdoch with examples that will be familiar to students. The ideas of Plato and Aristotle underlie much of Western culture, continue to inspire contemporary literary and philosophical work and shape the case for the central importance of the humanities today. Truth and Wonder is essential reading for students and researchers in the study of literature, theory and criticism as well as for those wishing to understand the foundations of the field. It will also be of interest to those studying philosophy, classics and political theory. Its accessible style and approach also mean it’s a perfect starting point for any literary-minded person who wants to know more about these two foundational thinkers.
If we are to understand why Plato had a theory of Forms, we must explain, firstly, why he thought it necessary to depart from the ontology of the Socratic dialogues; secondly, why he then posited the existence of entities that have the characteristics that he ascribes to Forms (entities that are 'unmixed', 'unchanging', 'in every way being' and so on); and thirdly, why Plato took this course when other philosophers have not done so (and even he himself and his immediate pupils were later to modify or abandon the theory). In this study, Robert William Jordan discovers an answer to these questions where we might expect to find one - namely in the arguments Plato gives us in favour of the hypothesis that there are Forms. These arguments, on analysis, reveal not just a concern with the nature of knowledge and explanation, but an interest in the analysis of the apparent contradictions that Plato in his middle period thought to be presented to the intellect by the sensible world. These contradictions, he then thought, could not be resolved except by those with knowledge of the Forms.
This reviewer has no doubts that Dr. Cushman has written a controversial book on Plato and in doing so has not only shown impressive familiarity with solid Platonic literature but is also very much at home with all the dialogues and salient passages bearing upon his thesis."-John P. Anton, Ohio Wesleyen University "Whoever the reader is, he willfind a hearty incitement to the articulation of ideas that American thought needs."-L. W. Norris, Saturday Review Although modernity often seems to be crisis-ridden, human history shows that every age is beset by problems. These are rooted in the human psyche and derive from man's "divorce from his ground of Being." Cushman's superb study of Plato illuminates how a transcendentally open soul deals with the universal resolution of humanity's most basic spiritual disorder. In Therapeia Cushman focuses on Plato's central theme: the soul's search for ultimate fulfillment and salvation from psychological, social, and political disorders. His detailed analysis begins with the critical importance of Socrates as the ideal of the well-rdered and rightly oriented soul, an then considers the essential ontological interdependence of virtue and knowledge. He explores the meaning of anamnesis, eros, and inner conversion, the epistemological value of right belief and its relation to true knowledge, and the proper and improper uses of rhetoric, so that the soul might finally attain the wisdom that flows from its natural affinity for the Good. Cushman regarded Therapei a as his greatest achievement. It is clear that he inhabited Plato's mind and steeped himself in Plato's thoughts, while paying due regard to numerous other commentaries on Plato. His purpose, simple in conception but extraordinarily difficult in execution, is to communicate an intense awareness of Plato's thought as a living philosophy. One of the most profound and luminous books about Plato, this book will be of interest to philosophers, philosophy students (graduate and undergraduate), and anyone interested in philosophy in general and/or Plato in particular. Robert Earl Cushman (1913-1993) was research professor emeritus of Systematic Theology and dean of the Divinity School of Duke University. He was the author of Faith Seeking and Understanding, John Wesley's Experimental Divinity: Studies in Methodist Doctrinal Standards, and The Heritage of Christian Thought. Michael Henry studied with Gerhart Niemeyer at Notre Dame where he received his advanced degree in political theory in 1974. Since 1977, he has been teaching philosophy at St. John's University in New York.
If life is meaningless as Sartre suggests, what is the point of being born? What does Freud have to say about losing one's virginity or Nietzsche about having a mid-life crisis? From birth to death (and beyond), the best brains in history have thought long and hard about the meaning behind the landmarks that shape our lives - and now acclaimed popular philosopher Robert Rowland Smith brings their genius together for the first time in this smart, witty and accessible journey through life's ups and downs. Drawing on philosophy, art, literature and psychology, Driving with Plato explores the real meaning of the hoops we all have to jump through. You'll hear from Aristotle on starting school, learn from St Paul about falling in love, and get tips from Cicero on becoming wise in your old age. Whether you are learning to drive or about to get married, Driving with Plato is certain to enlighten and entertain.
This collection of original essays pays tribute to the man by exploring topics that have interested him through a long and productive career. Plato's mathematical imagery, his theory of perception, the role of engineering techne in the origin of Greek science, time and free will in Kant, Whitehead as teacher of teachers, mapping friendships, Kierkegaard and the necessity of forgery. These and other topics are given fresh treatments meant to stimulate further philosophical thinking in the spirit of Brumbaugh himself.
The first five chapters of the second book of Aristotle's Politics contain a series of criticisms levelled against Plato's Republic. Despite the abundance of studies that have been done on Aristotle's Politics, these chapters have for the most part been neglected; there has been no book-length study of them this century. In this important new book, Robert Mayhew fills this unfortunate gap in Aristotelian scholarship, analyzing these chapters in order to discover what they tell us about Aristotle's political philosophy. Mayhew demonstrates that in Politics II 1-5, Aristotle is presenting his views on an extremely fundamental issue: the unity of the city. Indeed, he states, almost all of Aristotle's criticisms of the Republic center on this important subject in one way or another. Only by understanding Aristotle's views on the proper unity of the city, Mayhew explains, can we adequately discover his views on the proper relationship between the individual and the city. Students and scholars of classical political philosophy will be greatly interested in this innovative book.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.