On Political Virtue: Plato's Republic and the Politics of Desire / Carlo Sini, Alessandro Carrera, Alessandro Carrera, Giorgio Mobili, Santo Pettinato.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sini, Carlo, Author.

Contributor:

Carrera, Alessandro, editor.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany SUNY Press, [2026]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Translation of Carlo Sini's reading of Plato's Republic as the foundation of Western anthropology. On Political Virtue is Carlo Sini's masterful reading of Plato's Republic as the foundation of both Western politics and anthropology. In his long career, Sini has built up a complex philosophical system that includes phenomenology, pragmatism, philosophical semiotics, a rereading of the Italian tradition from Bruno to Vico, a theory of writing quite independent from anyone else, and a philosophy of "practices" that makes science and the humanities talk togethernot despite their differences but because of them. First published in 2004, On Political Virtue is an inquiry into the desire for politics and what politics desires from us. By reading Plato's Republic as a theatrical piece, Sini shows how the philosophical foundation of politics is the result of a very careful mise-en-scene, a magisterial setup that Plato conjures up only to make it disappear, so that the reader is left with the supposedly "pure" power of philosophical speech deprived of context. In Sini's interpretation, Plato's aim is to create a "pure" political subject still dependent on the male gaze yet supposedly free from the chains of desire.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction The Politics of Desire: Carlo Sini Reads Platos Republic / Alessandro Carrera

Foreword: The Encyclopedia Project

First Figure: Inscribed and Circumscribed Desire

Act One

The Scene of the Republic

Second Figure: The Practice of Force

Third Figure: The Origin of the State

Interlude

Act Two

Fourth Figure: Sexual Difference

Fifth Figure: The Invisible

Sixth Figure: The Analogy of the Written Word

Act Three

Seventh Figure: The Encounter with Death

Eighth Figure: The Occasion of the Sign

Ninth Figure: The Truth of the Sign

Epilogue

Authors Annotations

Index of Historical, Fictional, and Mythological Names

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed January 20 2026)

ISBN:

979-88-558-0689-2

9798855805192