Plato and the Body: Reconsidering Socratic Asceticism (SUNY series in Ancient Greek Philosophy)

__Offers an innovative reading of Plato, analyzing his metaphysical, ethical, and political commitments in connection with feminist critiques.__ Contents Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Interpreting Asceticism in Plato 1.1 Loving Wisdom and Living in a Body 1.2 Two Interpretations of Socratic Asceticism 1.3 A Brief Look at Some Consequences of Misinterpreting Socratic Asceticism 1.4 Strange Claims and the Analogy Strategy 1.5 Pedagogical Irony 1.6 Plan for the Chapters Chapter 2. Moderation and Training for Death in the Phaedo 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Resolving Two Problems with Embodied Inquiry 2.3 Moderation and the Separate Soul 2.4 How Bacchants Train for Death 2.5 Becoming Like God in a Life Raft Chapter 3. Beauty, Education, and Erotic Ascent in the Symposium and Phaedrus 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Erotic Philosopher 3.2.1 Socrates’s Abstinence with Phaedrus 3.2.2 Socrates’s Abstinence with Alcibiades 3.2.3 A Philosopher Married with Children 3.3 Erôs the Educational 3.3.1 Two Versions of Erôs 3.3.2 Desire, Recollection, and Confusion about the Forms 3.3.3 The Combination of Physical and Psychic Beauty 3.4 Nectar and Ambrosia for Plato’s Philosophers 3.4.1 Hiccups and the Sneeze Treatment 3.4.2 Nectar and Ambrosia for the Divine Horses 3.4.3 Loving Boys with the Help of Philosophy 3.5 The Unlucky Erotic Philosopher Chapter 4. Health, Justice, and Peace in the Republic and Gorgias 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Justice as Individual Harmony 4.2.1 Care of the Soul in the Gorgias 4.4.2 Care of the Soul in the Republic 4.3 The Peculiar Nature of Leaders in Plato’s Republic 4.3.1 Rare Combinations 4.3.2 Misunderstandings and Mistaken Identities 4.3.3 Loving the Good and Taking Refuge from Politics? 4.3.4 Loving the Good and Leading Communities 4.4 Justice as Political Harmony 4.4.1 Plato’s Emphasis on the Dangers of Poverty 4.4.2 Socrates’s First City 4.5 Know Justice, Know Peace Chapter 5. Interpretative Possibilities for the Late Dialogues 5.1 Common Themes 5.2 Positive Attention to the Physical 5.3 Moderation and Measure 5.4 Construing the Political Epilogue Notes Works Cited Index Offers an innovative reading of Plato, analyzing his metaphysical, ethical, and political commitments in connection with feminist critiques. For centuries, it has been the prevailing view that in prioritizing the soul, Plato ignores or even abhors the body; however, in Plato and the Body Coleen P. Zoller argues that Plato does value the body and the role it plays in philosophical life, focusing on Plato's use of Socrates as an exemplar. Zoller reveals a more refined conception of the ascetic lifestyle epitomized by Socrates in Plato's Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, Gorgias, and Republic. Her interpretation illuminates why those who want to be wise and good have reason to be curious about and love the natural world and the bodies in it, and has implications for how we understand Plato's metaphysical and political commitments. This book shows the relevance of this broader understanding of Plato for work on a variety of relevant contemporary issues, including sexual morality, poverty, wealth inequality, and peace. Coleen P. Zoller is Professor of Philosophy at Susquehanna University