Politics and philosophy in Plato's Menexenus : education and rhetoric, myth and history / Nickolas Pappas and Mark Zelcer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pappas, Nickolas, 1960- author.

Zelcer, Mark, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato. Menexenus.

Plato.

Rhetoric, Ancient.

Rhetoric--Philosophy.

Rhetoric.

Physical Description:

vii, 236 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2015.

Summary:

"Menexenus is one of the least studied among Plato's works, mostly because of the puzzling nature of the text, which has led many scholars either to reject the dialogue as spurious or to consider it as a mocking parody of Athenian funeral rhetoric. In this book, Pappas and Zelcer provide a persuasive alternative reading of the text, one that contributes in many ways to our understanding of Plato, and specifically to our understanding of his political thought.The book is organized into two parts. In the first part the authors offer a synopsis of the dialogue, address the setting and its background in terms of the Athenian funeral speech, and discuss the alternative readings of the dialogue, showing their weaknesses and strengths. In the second part, the authors offer their positive interpretation of the dialogue, taking particular care to explain and ground their interpretive criteria and method, which considers Plato's text not simply as a de-contextualized collection of philosophical arguments but offers a theoretically reading of the text that situates it firmly within its historical context.The book will become a reference point in the debate about the Menexenus and Plato's political philosophy more generally and marks an important contribution to our understanding of ancient thought and classical Athenian society"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I The Menexenus, its persons, its problems 13

1 Synopsis of the dialogue 15

Opening dialogue (234a-236d) 15

Funeral speech (236d-249c) 16

Closing dialogue (249d-e) 19

2 Persons and dates of the dialogue 20

Socrates 20

Aspasia 31

Other tutors: Connus, Antiphon and Lamprus 37

Archinus and Dion 40

Menexenus 42

Pericles 45

3 The Athenian funeral speech 58

The genre: three cautions 58

The Menexenus against the backdrop of its genre 67

The funeral speech in Loraux 71

4 The Menexenus as parody, as improvement 77

The relationship between the two funeral speeches 77

Positive arguments: the Menexenus speech as improvement 82

Positive argument from precedent 85

Negative arguments: against the Menexenus speech as parody 88

Part II Education and rhetoric 95

5 Scenes of instruction; Pericles' missed opportunities 97

Education and rhetoric 97

Pericles and moral education 99

Scenes of instruction in the Menexenus 103

Instruction as intrusion 111

6 Philosophical rhetoric 116

Logos and ergon 116

Praise 121

Improvisation 132

Part III Myth and history 141

7 Myth 143

Stories of Athens 143

Mythic passages in the Menexenus 146

Plato's myths 150

Autochthony in Athens 157

Autochthony in Plato 162

Autochthony and nature in the Menexenus 166

Autochthony and human difference in the Menexenus 169

The meanings of autochthony 174

8 History 182

Philosophical history 182

Omissions and other distortions of history 183

The Menexenus and the historians 195

Order in history 199

Soul, city, world 201

A parody of history? 206.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781844658206

1844658201

OCLC:

884631105

Publisher Number:

99960135236