| Plato's Progeny: How Plato and Socrates Still Captivate the Modern Mind Contributor(s): Lane, Melissa (Author) |
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ISBN: 0715628925 ISBN-13: 9780715628928 Publisher: Bristol Classical Press OUR PRICE: $35.59 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2001 Annotation: Socrates wrote nothing; but Plato??'s accounts of his life and thought were pivotal in the development of Western politics, ethics, and metaphysics and both continue to play crucial and dramatically changing roles in Western culture. The triumph of democracy in the last 200 years, for instance, has led many to side with the Athenians against a Socrates whom they were right to kill. This book is framed by accounts of modern responses to the trials of Socrates and the ironies of his inquiry. At its center are two chapters exploring the idea of Platonic ???origins??? in philosophy and of Platonic ???foundations??? for philosophical politics, as these have been interpreted by Coleridge, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Popper, and Murdoch among others. The author argues that the search for Platonic origins is an artifact of postmodern liberalism. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Modern - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Ancient & Classical |
| Dewey: 184 |
| LCCN: 2003427783 |
| Series: Classical Inter/Faces |
| Physical Information: 0.55" H x 6.12" W x 9.24" (0.66 lbs) 128 pages |
| Themes: - Theometrics - Academic |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Socrates wrote nothing; Plato's accounts of Socrates helped to establish western politics, ethics, and metaphysics. Both have played crucial and dramatically changing roles in western culture. In the last two centuries, the triumph of democracy has led many to side with the Athenians against a Socrates whom they were right to kill. Meanwhile, the Cold War gave us polar images of Plato as both a dangerous totalitarian and an escapist intellectual. This book is framed by accounts of modern responses to the trials of Socrates and the ironies of Socratic inquiry. At its centre are two chapters exploring the idea of Platonic 'origins' in philosophy, and of Platonic 'foundations' for philosophical politics, as these have been read by Coleridge, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Popper, and Murdoch among others. Melissa Lane argues that the search for Platonic origins is an artefact of post-modern literalism. Yet images of Socratic inquiry can still invigorate our ethics and politics. |