Description
Book SynopsisInvestigates what Nietzsche called the problem of Socrates, as that problem manifests itself in Plato's work. In particular, the book demonstrates how Socrates' own confrontation with this problem is the key to understanding the distinctively mimetic, dialogic, and reflexive character of Socratic philosophy.
Trade Review“This is a book whose subtext seems to be: Plato is good to think with. It is a self-standing work of philosophy as much as it is a hermeneutic enterprise. McNeill’s exploration of the model of human self-understanding and political engagement presented in Plato’s dialogues is sophisticated, committed, insightful, and wholly original.”
—G. R. F. Ferrari,University of California, Berkeley
“In extending and deepening our understanding of Plato’s depiction of Socrates’ subtle sense of human motivation, thought and action, this book makes a valuable contribution to the large body of scholarship on the figure of Socrates.”
—Sara Brill Polis
Table of ContentsContents
1. Introduction: Plato’s Socrates on the “Problem of Socrates”
2. Republic Book 1: Philosophy and Cultural Decadence
3. Polemarchus, Politics, and Action
4. Thrasymachus, Rhetoric, and the Art of Rule
5. Gorgias and the Divine Work of Persuasion
6. Protagoras, Antinaturalism, and the Political Art
7. Tyrannical Eros and the Philosophic Orientation of the Republic
8. Imitation and Experience
9. Poetry, Psychology, and τò θυμoειδες
10. Psychology and Ontology
Conclusion: An Image of the Soul in Speech
References
Index
