Plato's Dialogues: New Studies and InterpretationsGerald Alan Press Platoʹs dialogues have not only provided the necessary dosage of sunlight required to help cultivate the various subfields of the discipline but they have also given neophytes their first opportunity to study philosophy. Typically, upon commencing their post-secondary career in the academy, the average student will likely not have been exposed to any philosophical ideas, doctrines or concepts, let alone the primary works contained in the Corpus Platonicum. However, after reading a Platonic dialogue for the first time, the archetypal student seems to be struck by its suspicious simplicity. Gerald Press reports that it is within this perceived approachability that novice readers experience the most confusion: "An overall cause of reader perplexity about Plato is the contrast between what appears on the surface and what seems to exist, but obscurely, beneath the surface." (1) It is from this observation that Press begins his discussion on the causes of confusion in the Platonic dialogues. -- Review from http://www.c-scp.org (April 10, 2012). |
Contents
Looking for Clues An Interpretation of Some Literary | 17 |
Meaning and Dramatic Interpretation 47 | 47 |
Platos Dialogues as Subversive Activity 61 | 61 |
Copyright | |
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Academy Alcibiades allusions Anytus argues argument Aristophanes Aristotle assertions assumptions Athenian Athens audience auto to kalon beauty believe Callicles century Chaerephon character Charmides cicada myth cicadas claim context conversation critical Crito dialectic Diotima discussion divine doctrinal dramatic Eleatic essay Eucleides Euthydemus Euthyphro example fact fifth-century frame gods Gorgias Greek Griswold historical Socrates human idea imitation impiety indictment intellectual ironic irony knowledge Laches language listen literally literary meaning Meletus method Muses oral paideia Parmenides pedimental perhaps Phaedo Phaedrus philosophical piety Plato Plato studies Plato's dialogues Plato's Socrates political Polus principles problem Protagoras question readers reason reflexive reference relevant Republic rhetoric scholars seems sense sophist sophistry soul speech Speusippus Stranger structure suggests sunousia Symposium talk Tejera Theaetetus theory of Forms Thesleff things thought Timaeus traditional truth two-level understanding University Press Vlastos words writing Xenophon York young