Plato's progeny : how Plato and Socrates still captivate the modern mind / Melissa Lane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lane, M. S. (Melissa S.)

Series:

Classical inter/faces

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato--Influence.

Plato.

Socrates--Influence.

Socrates.

Philosophy, Modern--20th century.

Philosophy, Modern.

Physical Description:

x, 165 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : Duckworth, 2001.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

2. Who Was Socrates? 11

3. Plato on Forms and Foundations: the First Metaphysician? 53

4. The Political Plato: the First Totalitarian, the First Communist, the First Idealist? 97.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-158) and index.

ISBN:

0715628925

OCLC:

45648271