Plato’s Labyrinth : Sophistries, Lies and Conspiracies in Socratic Dialogues

This Original And Stimulating Study Of Plato's Socratic Dialogues Rereads And Reinterprets Plato's Writings In Terms Of Their Dialogical Or Dramatic Form. Taking Inspiration From The Techniques Of Umberto Eco, Jacques Derrida, And Leo Strauss, Aakash Singh Rathore Presents The Socratic Dialogues As Labyrinthine Texts Replete With Sophistries And Lies That Mask Behind Them Important Philosophical And Political Conspiracies. Plato's Labyrinth Argues That These Conspiracies And Intrigues Are Of Manifold Kinds - In Some, Plato Is Masterminding The Conspiracy; In Others, Socrates, Or The Sophists, Are The Victims Of The Conspiracies. With Supplementary Forays ('intermissions') Into The World Of Xenophon And The Sophists, The Complex And Evolving Series Of Overlapping Arguments That The Book Lays Out Unfold Within An Edgy And Dramatic Narrative. Presenting Innovative Readings Of Major Texts - Plato's Parmenides, Republic, Symposium And Meno As Also Homer's Odyssey - This Work Is An Ambitious Attempt To Synthesize Philological, Political, Historical And Philosophical Research Into A Classical Text-centred Study That Is At Once Of Urgent Contemporary Relevance. This Book Aims To Revitalize The Study Of Ancient Greek Thought In All Its Diverse Disciplinary Richness And Will Interest Students And Scholars Across The Social Sciences And Humanities, Especially Those In Philosophy, Greek And Classical Studies, Language And Literature, Politics, Media And Culture Studies, Theatre And Performance Studies, And History.-- Aakash Singh Rathore. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 153-168) And Index. "This original and stimulating study of Plato's Socratic dialogues rereads and reinterprets Plato's writings in terms of their dialogical or dramatic form. Taking inspiration from the techniques of Umberto Eco, Jacques Derrida, and Leo Strauss, Aakash Singh Rathore presents the Socratic dialogues as labyrinthine texts replete with sophistries and lies that mask behind them important philosophical and political conspiracies. Plato's Labyrinth argues that these conspiracies and intrigues are of manifold kinds--in some, Plato is masterminding the conspiracy; in others, Socrates, or the Sophists, are the victims of the conspiracies. With supplementary forays ('Intermissions') into the world of Xenophon and the Sophists, the complex and evolving series of overlapping arguments that the book lays out unfold within an edgy and dramatic narrative. Presenting innovative readings of major texts--Plato's Parmenides, Republic, Symposium and Meno as also Homer's Odyssey--this work is an ambitious attempt to synthesise philological, political, historical, and philosophical research into a classical text-centred study that is at once of urgent contemporary relevance. This book aims to revitalize the study of ancient Greek thought in all its diverse disciplinary richness and will interest students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities, especially those in philosophy, Greek and classical studies, language and literature, politics, media and culture studies, theatre and performance studies, and history."--Provided by publisher Cover 1 Title 6 Copyright 7 Dedication 8 CONTENTS 10 Acknowledgements 12 Parodos: esoteric writing, sophistries, lies and conspiracies 14 1 The dramatic labyrinth: on Plato’s Parmenides , page 1 32 2 The love of laughter: on Plato’s Republic 1.0 48 First intermission: Xenophon’s Hiero : a Straussian rendition 61 3 The joy of sex: on Plato’s Republic 2.0 77 4 How to train your demon: on Plato’s Symposium 96 Second intermission: Plato’s conspiracy against the Sophists 113 5 The morality of the master: on Plato’s Meno 129 6 Reading Plato through Homer’s Odyssey : a conspiracy theory 142 Exodos: where do we go from here? 161 Bibliography 166 Index 182