Description
Book SynopsisIn Socrates and Alcibiades, Ariel Helfer provides a new interpretation of Plato's account of the relationship between Socrates and the infamous Athenian general Alcibiades, in the process revealing a complex Platonic teaching on the nature and corruptibility of political ambition.
Trade Review"
Socrates and Alcibiades is a helpful and interesting book written by an excellent reader of Plato. The close readings of
Alcibiades, Second Alcibiades, and
Symposium are careful and insightful. Socrates and Alcibiades are two of the most colorful characters in Athenian history, and understanding their friendship is central to understanding Plato's political philosophy as well as Athens itself, the city that could not help but kill a philosopher. Helfer's book deftly moves readers deeper into those dynamics." *
The Review of Politics *
"
Socrates and Alcibiades is unusually clear, powerfully argued, and intelligent. It makes a convincing case that, in witnessing Socrates' attempts to educate young Alcibiades, we are witnessing the first manifestations of what has come to be called Socratic political philosophy. The book is essential reading for scholars of Socrates and Plato, especially their moral and political thought, and for those interested in the understudied and under-theorized phenomenon of political ambition." * Robert C. Bartlett, author of
Sophistry and Political Philosophy: Protagoras' Challenge to Socrates *
"This book is an engaging, wittily written analysis of the conversations between Alcibiades and Socrates. Ariel Helfer captures well the challenges and difficulties of a Socratic education, and in the process, he also brings out important questions about the desire to do good, political power, dependence on the divine, and the meaning of fame." * Arlene Saxonhouse, University of Michigan *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. Socrates' Promise and Alcibiades' Failure (Alcibiades 103−116)
Chapter 2. The Exaltation of Virtue (Alcibiades 116−135)
Chapter 3. Rescuing Alcibiades (Second Alcibiades)
Chapter 4. A Puzzling Retrospective (Symposium 211−222)
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Acknowledgments
