The politics of Socratic humor / John Lombardini

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lombardini, John, Author.

Series:

California scholarship online.

California scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Socrates.

Greek wit and humor--Philosophy.

Greek wit and humor.

Irony--Political aspects.

Irony.

Greek wit and humor--Political aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 pages)

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Was Socrates an ironist? Did he mock his interlocutors and, in doing so, show disdain for both them and the institutions of Athenian democracy? These questions were debated with great seriousness by generations of ancient Greek writers and helped to define a primary strand of the western tradition of political thought. By reconstructing these debates, The Politics of Socratic Humor compares the very different interpretations of Socrates developed by his followers-including such diverse thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Aristophanes, and the Hellenistic philosophers-to explore the deep ethical and political dimensions of Socratic humor and its implications for civic identity, democratic speech, and political cooperation. Irony has long been seen as one of Socrates' most characteristic features, but as Lombardini shows, irony is only one part of a much larger toolkit of Socratic humor, the broader intellectual context of which must be better understood if we are to appropriate Socratic thought for our own modern ends.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

Contents

Introduction

1. Aristophanes and Socratic Mockery

2. Plato and Socratic Eirōneia

3. Xenophon, Socratic Mockery, and Socratic Irony

4. Aristotle, Eutrapelia, and Socratic Eirōneia

5. Socratic Humor in the Hellenistic Period

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2018.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 21. Dez 2019)

ISBN:

9780520964914

0520964918

OCLC:

1031042440