The theory and practice of life : Isocrates and the philosophers / by Tarik Wareh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wareh, Tarik.

Series:

Hellenic studies ; 54.

Hellenic studies ; 54

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Isocrates--Criticism and interpretation.

Isocrates.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

pages.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Center for Hellenic Studies ; Cambridge, Mass. : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2012.

Summary:

This book is a study of the literary culture within which the works, schools, and careers of Plato, Aristotle, and contemporary Greek intellectuals took shape. It argues that Isocrates' contemporary theory of training and self-formation was an important provocation and creative inspiration to such works as Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Plato's Phaedrus. Wareh shows that when Aristotle illustrates his ethical theory by reference to the practical arts, this is no simple appeal to a homespun commonsense analogy, but a sign of dependence on the traditions and concepts of rhetorical and empirical methodology. Likewise, when Plato constructs the possibility of a truly philosophical rhetoric on the model of "Hippo-cratic" medicine, his uncomfortable consciousness of rhetorical theory's relevance, prestige, and power is revealed. The second half of the book brings together the fragmentary evidence for the participation of "Isocrateans" in the philosophical polemics, princely didactics, and literary competition of the fourth century, shedding new light on the "lost years" of intellectual and literary history that lie before the dawn of the Hellenistic period. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Isocrates and Aristotle: An Entanglement 11

1 The Influence of Rhetorical Education on Aristotelian Ethics: Knowledge, Training, and Performance 13

2 Plato's Concession to the Practical Arts in the Phaedrus 55

3 Aristotle in the Afternoon: Rhetoric, Exoterica, and the Compromised Philosopher 76

Part II School Creatures: Literary Competition, Philosophy, and Politics 113

4 Philosophical Politics, Tooth and Nail 115

Speusippus' Letter to Philip 134

5 Preaching and Patronage: The Intellectual and the King 140.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page) and index.

ISBN:

9780674067134

0674067134

OCLC:

792887503