Socrates and the State

by Richard Kraut
Socrates and the State
Author: Richard Kraut
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1984
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780691022413
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This fresh outlook on Socrates' political philosophy in Plato's early dialogues argues that it is both more subtle and less authoritarian than has been supposed. Focusing on the Crito, Richard Kraut shows that Plato explains Socrates' refusal to escape from jail and his acceptance of the death penalty as arising not from a philosophy that requires blind obedience to every legal command but from a highly balanced compromise between the state and the citizen. In addition, Professor Kraut contends that our contemporary notions of civil disobedience and generalization arguments are not present in this dialogue.

Socrates and the Political Community

by Mary P. Nichols
Socrates and the Political Community
Author: Mary P. Nichols
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1987-07-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1438414676
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This book takes a fresh look at Socrates as he appeared to three ancient writers: Aristophanes, who attacked him for his theoretical studies; Plato, who immortalized him in his dialogues; and Aristotle, who criticized his political views. It addresses the questions of the interrelation of politics and philosophy by looking at Aristophanes' Clouds, Plato's Republic, and Book II of Aristotle's Politics—three sides of a debate on the value of Socrates' philosophic life. Mary Nichols first discusses the relation between Aristophanes and Plato, showing that the city as Socrates' place of activity in the Republic resembles the philosophic thinktank mocked in Aristophanes' Clouds. By representing the extremes of the Republic's city, Plato shows that the dangers attributed by Aristophanes to the city are actually inherent in political life itself. They were to be moderated by Socratic political philosophy rather than Aristophanean comedy. Nichols concludes by showing how Aristotle addressed the question at issue between Plato and Aristophanes when he founded his political science. Judging Plato's and Aristophanes' positions as partial, Nichols argues that Aristotle based his political science on the necessity to philosophy of political involvement and the necessity to politics of philosophical thought.

Socrates Dissatisfied

by Roslyn Weiss
Socrates Dissatisfied
Author: Roslyn Weiss
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1998
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0195116844
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In this work, the author contends that contrary to prevailing notions, Plato's 'Crito' does not show an allegiance between Socrates & the state that condemned him. Weiss brings to light numerous indications that Socrates & the Laws are not partners.

The Republic

by By Plato
The Republic
Author: By Plato
Publisher: BookRix
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2019-06-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3736801467
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The Republic is a Socratic dialogue, written by Plato around 380 BCE, concerning the definition of justice, the order and character of the just city-state and the just man. The dramatic date of the dialogue has been much debated and though it must take place some time during the Peloponnesian War, "there would be jarring anachronisms if any of the candidate specific dates between 432 and 404 were assigned". It is Plato's best-known work and has proven to be one of the most intellectually and historically influential works of philosophy and political theory. In it, Socrates along with various Athenians and foreigners discuss the meaning of justice and examine whether or not the just man is happier than the unjust man by considering a series of different cities coming into existence "in speech", culminating in a city (Kallipolis) ruled by philosopher-kings; and by examining the nature of existing regimes. The participants also discuss the theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, and the roles of the philosopher and of poetry in society.

The Sacrifice of Socrates

by Wm. Blake Tyrrell
The Sacrifice of Socrates
Author: Wm. Blake Tyrrell
Publisher: MSU Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2012-10-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1609173384
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When Athenians suffered the shame of having lost a war from their own greed and foolishness, around 404 BCE the public’s blame was directed at Socrates, a man whose unique appearance and behavior, as well as his disapproval of the democracy, made him a ready target. Socrates was subsequently put on trial and sentenced to death. However, as René Girard has pointed out, no individual can be held responsible for a communal crisis. Plato’s Apology depicts Socrates as both the bane and the cure of Greek society, while his Crito shows a sacrificial Socrates, what some might consider a pharmakos figure, the human drug through whom Plato can dispense his philosophical remedies. With tremendous insight and satisfying complexity, this book analyzes classical texts through the lens of Girard’s mimetic mechanism.

Socratic Rationalism and Political Philosophy

by Paul Stern
Socratic Rationalism and Political Philosophy
Author: Paul Stern
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780791415733
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In this new interpretation of Plato's Phaedo, Paul Stern considers the dialogue as an invaluable source for understanding the distinctive character of Socratic rationalism. First, he demonstrates, contrary to the charge of such thinkers as Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Rorty, that Socrates' rationalism does not rest on the dogmatic presumption of the rationality of nature. Second, he shows that the distinctively Socratic mode of philosophizing is formulated precisely with a view to vindicating the philosophic life in the face of these uncertainties. And finally, he argues that this vindication results in a mode of inquiry that finds its ground in a clear understanding of the problematical but enduring human situation. Stern concludes that Socratic rationalism, aware as it is of the limits of reason, still provides a nondogmatic and nonarbitrary basis for human understanding.

The Death of Socrates and the Life of Philosophy

by Peter J. Ahrensdorf
The Death of Socrates and the Life of Philosophy
Author: Peter J. Ahrensdorf
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1995-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780791426333
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Shows that the dialogue in Plato's Phaedo is primarily devoted to presenting Socrates' final defense of the philosophical life against the theoretical and political challenge of religion.

Socrates

by Luis E. Navia
Socrates
Author: Luis E. Navia
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2009-12-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1616140860
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Philosopher Luis E. Navia presents a compelling portrayal of Socrates in this very readable and well-researched book, which is both a biography of the man and an exploration of his ideas.

Plato on Justice and Power

by Kimon Lycos
Plato on Justice and Power
Author: Kimon Lycos
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 220
Release: 1987-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780887064159
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Most commentaries on the Republic rush through Book I with embarrassment because the arguments of the participants, including Socrates, are specious. Beginning with Book II, the arguments are brilliant, so why did Plato write Book I? Lycos shows that the function of Book I is to attack the view that justice is external to the soul--external to the power humans have to render things good--and is merely instrumental to a good society. The dramatic situation in Book I presents justice as internal, requiring not laws, but discrimination and virtue. After this introduction, the rest of the Republic serves to sketch out what virtue is and how to practice discrimination. Plato on Justice and Power ends with some illuminating contrasts between this sense of virtue and that characteristic of our modern liberal politics which takes an external view of justice similar to the Athenians view at the time of Plato.