Plato the teacher : the crisis of The republic / William H.F. Altman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Altman, William H. F., 1955-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato. Republic.

Plato.

Justice.

Teaching--Methodology.

Teaching.

Physical Description:

xxii, 489 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, [2012]

Summary:

In this unique and important book, William H. F. Altman shines a light on the pedagogical technique of the playful Plato, especially his ability to create living discourses that directly address the student. Reviving an ancient concern with reconstructing the order in which Plato intended his dialogues to be taught, as opposed to determining the order in which he wrote them, Altman breaks with traditional methods by reading Plato's dialogues as a multiplex but coherent curriculum in which the Allegory of the Cave occupies the central place. His reading of Plato's Republic challenges the true philosopher to choose the life of justice exemplified by Socrates and Cicero by going back down into the Cave of political life for the sake of the greater Good. Book jacket.

Contents:

An Introduction to Plato's Republic: Inside and Outside the Text 1

1 The First Words of Plato's ∏ολιτεια 37

l χατεβην 37

2 Χθες 46

3 εις ∏ειαια 51

4 μητα Γλαυχωνος 54

5 του ʼΑιστωνος 65

2 Challenges 77

6 Cephalus and the Meaning of Life 77

7 Polemarchus Meets Appearance and Reality 82

8 Thrasymachus and the City of Good Men Only 87

9 Glaucon's Challenge to Socrates 101

10 The Challenge of Adeimantus to Plato 105

The Shorter Way 111-169

11 Introduction to Methodology 111

12 Methodology II: Hypotheses 117

13 Methodology III: Images 129

14 Looking Out for Number One 142

15 Making Friends with Thrasymachus 158

4 The Longer Way 171

16 The Speech to the Guardians 171

17 Justice and the Good on the Divided Line 181

18 The Idea of the Good and Plato's Theory of Forms 185

19 An Intellectual History of the Return 204

20 Whistling a Tune on the Way Down 236

5 The Firesticks 245

2 434d1-435a4 245

22 Two Jobs for One Man: Beyond the Tripartite Soul 250

23 The Third Wave of Paradox 257

24 Plato's Letters 259

25 Untimely Meditations on the Idea of Justice 275

6 Democracy and Education 291-358

26 Genetic Fictions 291

27 The Equality of the Sexes 294

28 Higher Education: Why the Good is not the One 305

29 Reading Order Revisited 336

30 The Age of Heroes 348

7 Choices 359

31 The Sewer of Romulus 359

32 The Perfectly Bearable Lightness of Being 367

33 Coming Up and Going Down 372

34 Plato the Imitator 377

35 Odysseus or Achilles? 382.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9780739171387

0739171380

9780739171394

0739171399

OCLC:

759916345