Interpretation: a Journal of Political Philosophy

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Interpretation: a Journal of Political Philosophy Interpretation A JOURNAL A OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Fall 1993 Volume 21 Number 1 Carl Page The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d Patrick Coby Socrates on the Decline and Fall of Regimes Books 8 and 9 of the Republic Gulliver' Richard Burrow s Travels: The Stunting of a Philosopher Book Reviews Charles E. Butterworth AIf Layla wa Layla, The Arabian Nights, translated by Husain Haddawy Michael P. Zuckert The Unvarnished Doctrine: Locke, Liberalism, and the American Revolution, by Steven M. Dworetz Charles T. Rubin Ecology, Community and Lifestyle, by Arne Naess Lucia Boyden An Index to Interpretation, Volumes 11 Prochnow through 20 Interpretation Editor-in-Chief Hilail Gildin, Dept. of Philosophy, Queens College Executive Editor Leonard Grey General Editors Seth G. Benardete Charles E. Butterworth Hilail Gildin Robert Horwitz (d. 1987) Howard B. White (d. 1974) Consulting Editors Christopher Bruell Joseph Cropsey Ernest L. Fortin John Hallowell (d. 1992) Harry V. Jaffa David Lowenthal Muhsin Mahdi Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. Arnaldo Momigliano (d. 1987) Michael Oakeshott (d. 1990) Ellis Sandoz Leo Strauss (d. 1973) Kenneth W. Thompson European Editors Terence E. Marshall Heinrich Meier Editors Wayne Ambler Maurice Auerbach Fred Baumann Michael Blaustein - Mark Blitz Patrick Coby Edward J. Erler Maureen Feder-Marcus Joseph E. Goldberg Stephen Harvey Pamela K. Jensen Ken Masugi Grant B. Mindle James W. Morris Will Morrisey Aryeh L. Motzkin Charles T. Rubin Leslie G. Rubin Bradford P. Wilson Hossein Ziai Michael Zuckert Catherine Zuckert Manuscript Editor Lucia B. Prochnow Subscriptions Subscription rates per volume (3 issues): individuals $25 libraries and all other institutions $40 students (four-year limit) $16 Single copies available. Postage outside U.S.: Canada $4.50 extra; elsewhere $5.40 extra by surface mail (8 weeks or longer) or $1 1 .00 by air. Payments: in U.S. dollars and payable by a financial institution located within the U.S.A. (or the U.S. Postal Service). contributors should follow The Chicago Manual of Style, 13th ed. or manuals based on it; double-space their manuscripts; place references in the text, in endnotes or follow current journal style in printing references. Words from languages not based on Latin should be transliterated to English. To ensure impartial judgment of their manuscripts, contributors should omit mention of their other work; put, on the title page only, their name, any affiliation desired, address with postal/zip code in full, and telephone. Please send three clear copies. Contributors using computers should, if possible, provide a character count of the entire manuscript. Composition by Eastern Composition, Inc., Binghamton, N.Y. 13905 Printed and bound by Wickersham Printing Co., Lancaster, PA 17603 Inquiries: Patricia D'Allura, Assistant to the Editor, interpretation, Queens College, Flushing, N.Y 11367-0904, U.S.A. (718)997-5542 Interpretation Fall 1993 Volume 21 Number 1 Carl Page The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d 3 Patrick Coby Socrates on the Decline and Fall of Regimes: Books 8 and 9 of the Republic 15 Richard Burrow Gulliver's Travels: The Stunting of a Philosopher 41 Book Reviews Charles E. Butterworth AlfLayla wa Layla, The Arabian Nights, translated by Husain Haddawy 59 Michael P. Zuckert The Unvarnished Doctrine: Locke, Liberalism, and the American Revolution, by Steven M. Dworetz 67 Charles T. Rubin Ecology, Community and Lifestyle, by Arne Naess 73 Lucia Boyden An Index to Interpretation, Volumes 1 1 Prochnow through 20 81 Copyright 1993 - interpretation ISSN 0020-9635 The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d Carl Page Emory University Halfway through Book II of Plato's Republic, Socrates, Glaucon, and Adei speech" mantus embark upon their famous construction of a "city in (369c). Their aim is to read the idea of justice off the scrutable face of the city as an alternative to having to fathom the obscurer depths of men's individual souls (368d-369a). Full development of the city in speech occurs in a series of dis tinguishable phases, culminating in the program of education that Socrates pro poses for his philosopher-kings at the end of Book VII (521c-540c). Of the many transitions that mark the overall development, two stand out for being the only ones marked by a dramatic interruption of the conversation. The one is occasioned by Glaucon in Book II (372c) and the other by Adeimantus (on behalf of Polemarchus) at the beginning of Book V (449b). Groundwork for the city in speech begins with Adeimantus and runs through two stages before Glaucon interrupts. The second, elaborated from 370c-372b, produces a model "healthy" "truthful" city that Socrates soon calls and (372e), while the very first city" stage of the construction is dubbed "the most necessary (he anagkaiotate (andres)" polis) and it is made up "from four or five men (369d). As it hap city" pens, the very brief account of skills demanded by "the most necessary had included only four by name: the arts of the farmer, the housebuilder, the weaver, and the shoemaker. In light of the procedurally crucial resolve to spell out their city with the largest, clearest, most discernible alphabet possible, the casualness of this "four five" or at the very outset appears arbitrarily vague; there is no evident reason for allowing the outlines of the model city to become blurred so early on. Still worse, however, is the oxymoronic conjunction in exactly the same Socratic necessary"five." breath of "most and "four or Is the fifth needed or not? What sort of superlative necessity can they have discovered, if Socrates is unable even to count the number of occupations essential to "the most necessary city"? Socrates' These two observations suggest that mention of a fifth man is not embellishment. It is some casual slip of the tongue or thoughtless momentary too logically embarrassing or ridiculous for that. The unnamed fifth, therefore, presents a puzzle that calls for interpretation. Why should he (Socrates does say could unnamed function be? andres) have been mentioned at all? What his Socrates' Adeimantus happens to make no comment about the oddities in most would be made from four or summary statement that "the necessary city interpretation, Fall 1993, Vol. 21, No. 1 4 Interpretation men" Socrates' five (369d). Were it not for the fact that interlocutors are so often represented as only partially understanding the force and direction of his questioning, this might be some ground for dismissing the need to interpret the Socrates' unnamed fifth. More importantly, though, remarks do not have to be meaningful in the context of his immediate conversation in order for them to be meaningful at all. Not only in the particular case of the Republic is there an audience represented within the dialogue, there is also the audience beyond the dialogue for whom Plato has constructed his monologic text. Moreover, it is to this latter level that all intradramatic speculations must eventually be referred. I have already given two reasons for supposing that at least Plato intended the unnamed fifth to be noticed, whether or not it could also be said that Socrates was tacitly addressing others in the dialogue or saying more than he knew "own" Adeimantus would understand for reasons of his own where has only dramatic meaning. My aim in what follows is to confirm that the unnamed fifth was meant to be noticed and to show that it is worth noticing, by deriving directly from the document entitled Republic the means for articulating its larger contextual significance. Plato's dialogues are full of the quirkiest details. Hermeneutic response to such details varies along a continuum from impatient dismissal to sycophantic obsession. While I intend to pursue an expansive rather than lean interpretation of the unnamed fifth, there is in this case an obvious deflationary (though not dismissive) reading that in the interests of moderation needs to be considered first. It will turn out to be not so much incorrect as inadequate. Socrates' Here is the entire discussion leading up to summary characteriza city" tion of the "most necessary at 369d: S. "Well now, first and greatest of our needs is the provision of food for the sake living." of being and A. "Absolutely." S. "Second is the need for housing, and third the need for clothing and such things." A. "That's so." then," S. "Come I said, "how will the city be up to such provision? How else but that one be a farmer, another a housebuilder, and some other a weaver? Or shall we also install there a shoemaker or some other caretaker of bodily things?" A. "Quite." men." S. "So the most necessary city would be from four or five A. "Apparently."' Socrates' countdown of needs stops at three: food first, shelter second, then things" "clothing and such third. There is some vagueness built into the last of The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d 5 these needs, and it seems to be the ground for the question of whether the enumeration of skilled men corresponding to them should be extended to in things." clude "a shoemaker or some other caretaker of bodily Although the caretaker" (tin' "other is not named, he is different allon) and therefore counted separately from the shoemaker, in the same way that the weaver is "some other" (alios tis) in relation to the farmer and housebuilder. The named occupa "four" Socrates' tions may reasonably be taken to correspond to the of sum things" mary, which leaves "some other caretaker of the bodily as the obvious candidate for the unspecified fifth. Whatever else may be said about this, the number of human occupations in other words, the character of human life even in the most necessary city is underdetermined by the number of man's "three" basic needs.
Recommended publications
  • The Roles of Solon in Plato's Dialogues
    The Roles of Solon in Plato’s Dialogues Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Samuel Ortencio Flores, M.A. Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Bruce Heiden, Advisor Anthony Kaldellis Richard Fletcher Greg Anderson Copyrighy by Samuel Ortencio Flores 2013 Abstract This dissertation is a study of Plato’s use and adaptation of an earlier model and tradition of wisdom based on the thought and legacy of the sixth-century archon, legislator, and poet Solon. Solon is cited and/or quoted thirty-four times in Plato’s dialogues, and alluded to many more times. My study shows that these references and allusions have deeper meaning when contextualized within the reception of Solon in the classical period. For Plato, Solon is a rhetorically powerful figure in advancing the relatively new practice of philosophy in Athens. While Solon himself did not adequately establish justice in the city, his legacy provided a model upon which Platonic philosophy could improve. Chapter One surveys the passing references to Solon in the dialogues as an introduction to my chapters on the dialogues in which Solon is a very prominent figure, Timaeus- Critias, Republic, and Laws. Chapter Two examines Critias’ use of his ancestor Solon to establish his own philosophic credentials. Chapter Three suggests that Socrates re- appropriates the aims and themes of Solon’s political poetry for Socratic philosophy. Chapter Four suggests that Solon provides a legislative model which Plato reconstructs in the Laws for the philosopher to supplant the role of legislator in Greek thought.
    [Show full text]
  • Phaedrus Plato
    Phaedrus Plato TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN JOWETT ROMAN ROADS MEDIA Classical education, from a Christian perspective, created for the homeschool. Roman Roads combines its technical expertise with the experience of established authorities in the field of classical education to create quality video courses and resources tailored to the homeschooler. Just as the first century roads of the Roman Empire were the physical means by which the early church spread the gospel far and wide, so Roman Roads Media uses today’s technology to bring timeless truth, goodness, and beauty into your home. By combining excellent instruction augmented with visual aids and examples, we help inspire in your children a lifelong love of learning. Phaedrus by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett This text was designed to accompany Roman Roads Media's 4-year video course Old Western Culture: A Christian Approach to the Great Books. For more information visit: www.romanroadsmedia.com. Other video courses by Roman Roads Media include: Grammar of Poetry featuring Matt Whitling Introductory Logic taught by Jim Nance Intermediate Logic taught by Jim Nance French Cuisine taught by Francis Foucachon Copyright © 2013 by Roman Roads Media, LLC Roman Roads Media 739 S Hayes St, Moscow, Idaho 83843 A ROMAN ROADS ETEXT Phaedrus Plato TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN JOWETT INTRODUCTION The Phaedrus is closely connected with the Symposium, and may be regarded either as introducing or following it. The two Dialogues together contain the whole philosophy of Plato on the nature of love, which in the Republic and in the later writings of Plato is only introduced playfully or as a figure of speech.
    [Show full text]
  • Free Speech Yearbook: 1972. INSTITUTION Speech Communication Association,New York, N.Y
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 071 122 CS 500 097 ADTHOR Tedford, Thomas L., Ed. TITLE Free Speech Yearbook: 1972. INSTITUTION Speech Communication Association,New York, N.Y. PUB DATE 73 NOTE 142p. AVAILABLE FROMSpeech Communication Association,Statler Hilton Hotel, New York, N.Y. 10001 ($2.50) ERRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$6.58 DESCRIPTORS Bibliographies; Censorship; *CivilLiberties; Court Doctrine; *Freedom of Speech; GreekCivilization; *Social Attitudes; Student Opinion;Supreme Court Litigation ABSTRACT This book is a collection ofessays on free speech. issues and attitudes, compiled bythe Commission on Freedom of Speech of the Speech CommunicationAssociation. Four articles focuson freedom of speech in classroomsituations as follows:a philosophic view of teaching free speech, effectsof a course on free speechon student attitudes, historicalessentials of teaching free speech,and two opposing views on teacher attitudeson free speech in the communications classroom. Subjects ofother essays are: the judicial process in relation to freedom of speech;freedom of speech in ancient Athens; a case in which theAmerican Civil Liberties Union sought limitations on freedom ofspeech; the opposing philosophiesof Thomas Hobbes and John Stuart Mill;the rhetoric of intimidationin Indiana during.World War I; andSupreme Court decisions relating to the First Amendment during its1971-1972 term. The book ends withan extensive bibliography of articles,books, and court decisions relating to freedom of speechand published between July 1971and June 1972. (RN) rJ;freeperil ljearbook:1972 ,c.! a publication of The Commissionon Freedom of Speech of the Speech CommunicationAssociation U S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO. DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historicity of Plato's Apology of Socrates
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1946 The Historicity of Plato's Apology of Socrates David J. Bowman Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons Recommended Citation Bowman, David J., "The Historicity of Plato's Apology of Socrates" (1946). Master's Theses. 61. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/61 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1946 David J. Bowman !HE HISTORICITY OP PLATO'S APOLOGY OF SOCRATES BY DA.VID J. BOWJWf~ S.J• .l. !BESIS SUBMITTED Ilf PARTIAL FULFILIJIE.NT OF THB: R}gQUIRE'IIENTS POR THE DEGREE OF IIA.STER OF ARTS Ill LOYOLA UlfiVERSITY JULY 1946 -VI'fA. David J. Bowman; S.J•• was born in Oak Park, Ill1no1a, on Ma7 20, 1919. Atter b!a eleaentar7 education at Ascension School# in Oak Park, he attended LoJola AcademJ ot Chicago, graduat1DS .from. there in June, 1937. On September 1, 1937# he entered the Sacred Heart Novitiate ot the SocietJ ot Jesus at Milford~ Ohio. Por the tour Jear• he spent there, he was aoademicallJ connected with Xavier Univeraitr, Cincinnati, Ohio. In August ot 1941 he tranaterred to West Baden College o.f Lorol& Universit7, Obicago, and received the degree ot Bachelor o.f Arts with a major in Greek in Deo.aber, 1941.
    [Show full text]
  • Theory of Forms 1 Theory of Forms
    Theory of Forms 1 Theory of Forms Plato's theory of Forms or theory of Ideas[1] [2] [3] asserts that non-material abstract (but substantial) forms (or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality.[4] When used in this sense, the word form is often capitalized.[5] Plato speaks of these entities only through the characters (primarily Socrates) of his dialogues who sometimes suggest that these Forms are the only true objects of study that can provide us with genuine knowledge; thus even apart from the very controversial status of the theory, Plato's own views are much in doubt.[6] Plato spoke of Forms in formulating a possible solution to the problem of universals. Forms Terminology: the Forms and the forms The English word "form" may be used to translate two distinct concepts that concerned Plato—the outward "form" or appearance of something, and "Form" in a new, technical nature, that never ...assumes a form like that of any of the things which enter into her; ... But the forms which enter into and go out of her are the likenesses of real existences modelled after their patterns in a wonderful and inexplicable manner.... The objects that are seen, according to Plato, are not real, but literally mimic the real Forms. In the allegory of the cave expressed in Republic, the things that are ordinarily perceived in the world are characterized as shadows of the real things, which are not perceived directly. That which the observer understands when he views the world mimics the archetypes of the many types and properties (that is, of universals) of things observed.
    [Show full text]
  • Governance in Decentralized Networks
    Governance in decentralized networks Risto Karjalainen* May 21, 2020 Abstract. Effective, legitimate and transparent governance is paramount for the long-term viability of decentralized networks. If the aim is to design such a governance model, it is useful to be aware of the history of decision making paradigms and the relevant previous research. Towards such ends, this paper is a survey of different governance models, the thinking behind such models, and new tools and structures which are made possible by decentralized blockchain technology. Governance mechanisms in the wider civil society are reviewed, including structures and processes in private and non-profit governance, open-source development, and self-managed organisations. The alternative ways to aggregate preferences, resolve conflicts, and manage resources in the decentralized space are explored, including the possibility of encoding governance rules as automatically executed computer programs where humans or other entities interact via a protocol. Keywords: Blockchain technology, decentralization, decentralized autonomous organizations, distributed ledger technology, governance, peer-to-peer networks, smart contracts. 1. Introduction This paper is a survey of governance models in decentralized networks, and specifically in networks which make use of blockchain technology. There are good reasons why governance in decentralized networks is a topic of considerable interest at present. Some of these reasons are ideological. We live in an era where detailed information about private individuals is being collected and traded, in many cases without the knowledge or consent of the individuals involved. Decentralized technology is seen as a tool which can help protect people against invasions of privacy. Decentralization can also be viewed as a reaction against the overreach by state and industry.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues
    Ryan C. Fowler 25th Hour On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues I. Thrasyllus a. Diogenes Laertius (D.L.), Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 3.56: “But, just as long ago in tragedy the chorus was the only actor, and afterwards, in order to give the chorus breathing space, Thespis devised a single actor, Aeschylus a second, Sophocles a third, and thus tragedy was completed, so too with philosophy: in early times it discoursed on one subject only, namely physics, then Socrates added the second subject, ethics, and Plato the third, dialectics, and so brought philosophy to perfection. Thrasyllus says that he [Plato] published his dialogues in tetralogies, like those of the tragic poets. Thus they contended with four plays at the Dionysia, the Lenaea, the Panathenaea and the festival of Chytri. Of the four plays the last was a satiric drama; and the four together were called a tetralogy.” b. Characters or types of dialogues (D.L. 3.49): 1. instructive (ὑφηγητικός) A. theoretical (θεωρηµατικόν) a. physical (φυσικόν) b. logical (λογικόν) B. practical (πρακτικόν) a. ethical (ἠθικόν) b. political (πολιτικόν) 2. investigative (ζητητικός) A. training the mind (γυµναστικός) a. obstetrical (µαιευτικός) b. tentative (πειραστικός) B. victory in controversy (ἀγωνιστικός) a. critical (ἐνδεικτικός) b. subversive (ἀνατρεπτικός) c. Thrasyllan categories of the dialogues (D.L. 3.50-1): Physics: Timaeus Logic: Statesman, Cratylus, Parmenides, and Sophist Ethics: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, Menexenus, Clitophon, the Letters, Philebus, Hipparchus, Rivals Politics: Republic, the Laws, Minos, Epinomis, Atlantis Obstetrics: Alcibiades 1 and 2, Theages, Lysis, Laches Tentative: Euthyphro, Meno, Io, Charmides and Theaetetus Critical: Protagoras Subversive: Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Hippias 1 and 2 :1 d.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's Third Man Argument
    Greek Philosophy (Essays) Theo Todman Does the Third Man Argument refute the theory of forms? Fine [1993] recognises four versions of the Third Man Argument (TMA). However, she argues persuasively that these are similar arguments with similar tacit premises, though with different emphases. Consequently, we will consider only that in Parmenides 132a1- b2. Fine’s translation runs as follows, with Parmenides speaking to Socrates: I suppose it is because of the following sort of thing that you think that (1) each form is one: (2) Whenever many things seem large to you, there perhaps seems to you to be, when you have looked at them all, some one and the same idea. Hence you think (3) the large is one. …. (4) What, then, if in the same way you look in your soul at all these – at the large itself and the other large things? (5) Will not some one large appear again, by which all these will appear large? …. So another form of largeness will appear besides the large itself and its participants. (6) And in addition to these, yet another, by which all these will be large. (7) And so each of the forms will no longer be one for you, but infinitely many. There are two things we need to address in this essay. Firstly, we need to understand the TMA itself, determining its premises, logical structure and validity. Secondly, we need to determine what Plato wants us to learn from it, and what its consequences are for his theory of Forms. The Argument Vlastos [1954] generalises Fine’s steps (2) and (5) as: (V2) If a number of things a, b, c, are all F, there must be a single Form F-ness, in virtue of which we apprehend a, b, c as all F.
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing Kallipolis: the Political Argument of Plato's Socratic Dialogues
    Constructing Kallipolis: The Political Argument of Plato's Socratic Dialogues The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Muller, Joe Pahl Williams. 2016. Constructing Kallipolis: The Political Argument of Plato's Socratic Dialogues. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493293 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Constructing Kallipolis: The Political Argument of Plato’s Socratic Dialogues A dissertation presented by Joe Pahl Williams Muller to The Department of Government in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Political Science Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April 2016 © 2016 Joe Pahl Williams Muller All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisors: Joe Pahl Williams Muller Professor Eric Nelson Professor Rusty Jones Constructing Kallipolis: The Political Argument of Plato’s Socratic Dialogues Abstract This dissertation examines the political argument of Plato’s Socratic dialogues. Common interpretations of these texts suggest, variously: (1) that Socrates does not offer much in the way of a political theory; (2) that Socrates does reflect on politics but ultimately rejects political in- stitutions as irrelevant to his ethical concerns; (3) that Socrates arrives at a political theory that either accepts or even celebrates free and demo- cratic political arrangements.
    [Show full text]
  • All of a Sudden: the Role of Ἐξαίφνης in Plato's Dialogues
    Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 1-1-2014 All of a Sudden: The Role of Ἐξαιφ́ νης in Plato's Dialogues Joseph J. Cimakasky Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Cimakasky, J. (2014). All of a Sudden: The Role of Ἐξαιφ́ νης in Plato's Dialogues (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/68 This Worldwide Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALL OF A SUDDEN: THE ROLE OF ἘΧΑΙΦΝΗΣ IN PLATO’S DIALOGUES A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Joseph Cimakasky May 2014 Copyright by Joseph Cimakasky 2014 ALL OF A SUDDEN: THE ROLE OF ἘΧΑΙΦΝΗΣ IN PLATO’S DIALOGUES By Joseph Cimakasky Approved April 9, 2014 ________________________________ ________________________________ Ronald Polansky Patrick Lee Miller Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ John W. McGinley Professor of Philosophy (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ James Swindal Ronald Polansky Dean, McAnulty College Chair, Philosophy Department Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT ALL OF A SUDDEN: THE ROLE OF ἘΧΑΙΦΝΗΣ IN PLATO’S DIALOGUES By Joseph Cimakasky May 2014 Dissertation supervised by Professor Ronald Polansky There are thirty-six appearances of the Greek word ἐξαίφνης in Plato’s dialogues.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Democratic Education in The
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Democratic Education in the Works of Plato A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science by Richard A. Barrett Committee in charge: Professor Tracy B. Strong, Chair Professor Page duBois Professor Fonna Forman Professor Marcel Hénaff Professor Gerry Mackie 2014 Copyright Richard A. Barrett, 2014 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Richard A. Barrett is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Chair UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO 2014 iii DEDICATION To those who have shared conversations about our world with me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………………...…iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………..iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………....v Vita…………………………………………………………………………………....vii Abstract of the Dissertation.………………………………………………………....viii Introduction: Plato and the Problem of Democratic Education ..................................... 1 Chapter 1 Reading Plato: Plato and Xenophon as Teachers and Poets ............. 7 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Comparison of Apologies ................................................................................ 8 1.3 Plato on the Relationship of Philosophy,
    [Show full text]
  • The Rationality of Plato's Theory of Good and Evil
    Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) 1979 The Rationality of Plato’s Theory of Good and Evil Allan A. Davis Wilfrid Laurier University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Davis, Allan A., "The Rationality of Plato’s Theory of Good and Evil" (1979). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 1508. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1508 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT Plato has been called the "father of rational theology." This thesis is an attempt to examine in the light of contemporary Platonic scholarship five of Plato's essentially religious doctrines insofar as they support the idea that Plato's theory of good and evil is rational. Chapters 1 and 2 examine the plausibility of Plato's theory of knowledge. Chapter 3 states briefly his theory of Forms, while Chapter 4 attempts to give this doctrine credence by analysing those aspects of it which seem least convincing. Chapters 5 and 6 consider Plato's theory of soul and conclude that, although some of his beliefs in this area lack credibility, his interpretation of the nature and function of soul is basically plausible. Chapters 7 and 8 examine the rationality of Plato's Idea of the Good. Chapter 9 sketches his notion of balance and proportion and, in conclusion, Chapter 10 attempts to show how this theory provides an underlying credibility not only to all the theories discussed but also to Plato's theory of good and evil in its entirety.
    [Show full text]