The platonic political art : a study of critical reason and democracy / John R. Wallach.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wallach, John R., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato--Contributions in poltical science.

Plato.

Plato--Views on democracy.

Democracy.

Reason.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (359 pages)

Place of Publication:

University Park, Pennsylvania : The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.

Summary:

In this first comprehensive treatment of Plato’s political thought in a long time, John Wallach offers a ";critical historicist"; interpretation of Plato. Wallach shows how Plato’s theory, while a radical critique of the conventional ethical and political practice of his own era, can be seen as having the potential for contributing to democratic discourse about ethics and politics today.The author argues that Plato articulates and ";solves"; his Socratic Problem in his various dialogues in different but potentially complementary ways. The book effectively extracts Plato from the straightjacket of Platonism and from the interpretive perspectives of the past fifty years—principally those of Karl Popper, Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, M. I. Finley, Jacques Derrida, and Gregory Vlastos.The author’s distinctive approach for understanding Plato—and, he argues, for the history of political theory in general—can inform contemporary theorizing about democracy, opening pathways for criticizing democracy on behalf of virtue, justice, and democracy itself.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART I: SETTING

1. INTERPRETING PLATO POLITICALLY

2. HISTORICIZING THE PLATONIC POLITICAL ART

PART II: INTERPRETATIONS

3. THE POLITICAL ART IN APORETIC DIALOGUES, OR PLATO’S SOCRATIC PROBLEM AMID ATHENIAN CONVENTIONS

4. THE CONSTITUTION OF JUSTICE. The Political Art in Plato’s Republic

5. THE POLITICAL ART AS PRACTICAL RULE

PART III: AN APPROPRIATION

6. THE PLATONIC POLITICAL ART AND POSTLIBERAL DEMOCRACY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780271076799

0271076798

9780271031026

0271031026

OCLC:

1266228037