The ideas of Socrates / Matthew S. Linck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Linck, Matthew S.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Socrates.

Plato.

Plato. Parmenides.

Plato. Phaedo.

Plato. Symposium.

Philosophy, Ancient.

Physical Description:

140 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Continuum, [2007]

Summary:

The Ideas of Socrates offers a unique interpretation of the ideas (forms, eide) in Plato's writings. In this concise and accessible study, Matthew S. Linck makes four major claims. Firstly, the ideas as Socrates discusses them in the Phaedo, Parmenides, and Symposium are shown to be integral to the person of Socrates as presented in Plato's dialogues. Socrates cannot simply be construed as the mouthpiece for a 'Platonic' theory. Secondly, Linck argues that if we take Plato's dialogues as an integrated set of writings, then we must acknowledge that the mature Socrates as portrayed in the Phaedo is perfectly aware of the difficulties entailed in the positing of ideas that are developed in the Parmenides. Thirdly, the book shows that Socrates' recourse to the ideas is not simply an epistemological issue but one of self-transformation, a teaching relayed in Socrates' speech in the Symposium. And finally Linck examines how Socrates relates to the ideas in two ways, one practical, the other speculative. The tension between these two ways represents a challenge for any reading of the ideas in Plato's writings. This important new book will be of interest to anyone involved in the study of Ancient Philosophy.

Contents:

Introduction

Pythagorean overture

Phaedo

Blindness

Anaxagoras

Socrates' second sailing

Parmenides

Socrates and Zeno

Socrates' ideas

The challenge of Parmenides

Ideas and the one

Symposium

Erotic ascent

The in-between

The genealogy of Eros, or the philosopher

Possession and generation

Eros and ideas

Safety

Soul and ideas.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [133]-137) and index.

ISBN:

082649451X

9780826494511

OCLC:

70803325