Reason and Analysis in Ancient Greek Philosophy: Essays in Honor of David Keyt (Philosophical Studies Series Book 120)

This distinctive collection of original articles features contributions from many of the leading scholars of ancient Greek philosophy. They explore the concept of reason and the method of analysis and the central role they play in the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They engage with salient themes in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political theory, as well as tracing links between each thinker’s ideas on selected topics. The volume contains analyses of Plato’s Socrates, focusing on his views of moral psychology, the obligation to obey the law, the foundations of politics, justice and retribution, and Socratic virtue. On Plato’s Republic, the discussions cover the relationship between politics and philosophy, the primacy of reason over the soul’s non-rational capacities, the analogy of the city and the soul, and our responsibility for choosing how we live our own lives. The anthology also probes Plato’s analysis of logos (reason or language) which underlies his philosophy including the theory of forms. A quartet of reflections explores Aristotelian themes including the connections between knowledge and belief, the nature of essence and function, and his theories of virtue and grace. The volume concludes with an insightful intellectual memoir by David Keyt which charts the rise of analytic classical scholarship in the past century and along the way provides entertaining anecdotes involving major figures in modern academic philosophy. Blending academic authority with creative flair and demonstrating the continuing interest of ancient Greek philosophy, this book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all those studying and researching the origins of Western philosophy. Acknowledgments 8 Contents 10 Contributors 12 Abbreviations of Plato’s Works 16 Abbreviations of Aristotle’s Works 18 Introduction 19 Bibliography 27 A Life in the Academy 28 1 Arsenal Technical High School 28 2 Kenyon College 29 3 Cornell University 31 4 The U.S. Army 33 5 The University of Washington 34 6 The 1960s 36 7 The 1970s 39 8 Princeton and Hong Kong 43 9 The Road Not Taken 47 10 Working with Others 48 11 August in Greece 52 12 The New Century 53 13 Last Things 57 Works Cited 58 Moral Psychology in Plato’s Apology 62 1 Introduction 62 2 Text #1: Apology 21b1-23e3 64 3 Text #2: Apology 29e3-30a3 66 4 Text #3: Apology 32b1-32d4 67 5 Text #4: Apology 34b6-34d1 68 6 Conclusion 68 Notes 69 Bibliography 70 Socrates, the Athenian 71 Notes 81 Bibliography 82 Socrates on the Impossibility of a Reasonable Politics 83 1 Three Paradoxes 84 2 A Grand Isolationism 87 3 A Reluctant Isolationism 89 4 A New Isolationism 91 4.1 A Conceptual Breakthrough 93 4.2 Socrates as Partisan 96 4.3 Lobbying as a Profession 97 5 Pessimism 100 6 Resolving the Paradoxes 102 Notes 104 Bibliography 105 Retaliation in the Crito 107 1 Setting the Stage 107 2 The Project 109 3 Proving the Major Premise 110 4 Proving the Minor Premise 119 Notes 123 Bibliography 124 How Virtuous Was Socrates? 125 1 Introduction 125 2 The Philosophical Significance of Socrates’ Moral Character 125 3 The Socratic Problem and the Character of Socrates 128 4 The Speech of Alcibiades and Socrates’ Attitude toward Eros in the Symposium 129 5 Interpretations of Alcibiades’ Speech 130 6 Alcibiades’ Speech and the Problem of Humor 132 7 The Irony and Humor of Alcibiades 133 8 Concluding Considerations 136 Notes 138 Bibliography 138 Plato’s Republic as a Vocation 140 1 Weber and Wolin 141 2 Education in the Republic 146 3 Institutional Design 151 4 The Principle of Specialization and Vocations 154 Notes 158 Bibliography 159 Soul, Soul-Parts, and Persons in Plato 161 1 Reason 161 2 Appetite 167 3 Spirit 172 4 Ruling the Soul 177 5 Souls and Persons 178 Notes 183 Bibliography 184 Just City and Just Soul in Plato’s Republic 185 1 The Functional Theory of Good and Virtue 186 2 The Isomorphism Between Just City and Just Soul 187 3 Parts of the Soul: Agents or Faculties? 190 4 Is Plato’s Completely Good City Intellectually, Politically, and Ethically Elitist? 197 5 The Virtues and Vices of Isomorphism 203 Notes 205 Bibliography 208 Virtue, Luck, and Choice at the End of the Republic 210 Notes 219 Bibliography 221 The Grounds of Logos : The Interweaving of Forms 223 1 Interwoven Forms and the Simple Semantic Theory 223 2 Positioning Plato’s Remark 225 3 A Problem for Plato 227 4 Introducing Precision 229 5 A Platonic Sense Structure 231 6 Conclusions 238 Notes 238 Bibliography 241 Accidental Beings in Aristotle’s Ontology 243 Notes 252 Bibliography 253 Is There Room for Plato in an Aristotelian Theory of Essence? 255 1 Purity in the Engagement with Plato 257 1.1 The Basic Argument for Sameness 257 1.2 Plato and the Elaboration of the Basic Argument 260 2 “Severance”: How Platonic Separation Is Not a Target 264 2.1 “Severance” and Its Consequences: 1031b3-11 264 2.2 A Fresh Argument for Identity: Severance and a Principle from the Theory of Izzing and Having 265 3 Goodbye to Severance, and in Defense of Uniformity 267 3.1 The Applications of Uniformity: Fallacy, or True Platonic Doctrine? 267 3.2 Fallacy Again, or More True Doctrine? 271 3.3 Aristotle on How Plato’s Forms Are Inessential to His Argument 272 Notes 273 Appendix 279 Bibliography 281 Metaphysics Z.11 and Functionalism 282 1 Aristotle’s Anti-reductionism: Matter Depends on Form 283 2 The Appearance of Compositional Plasticity in Metaphysics 1036a33-b3 285 3 A Reading of Z.11 1036a-b32 288 4 Aristotle and Common-Sense Realism 291 Notes 291 Bibliography 293 Aristotle on Belief and Knowledge 295 1 Four Problems Concerning Belief 296 2 Aristotle’s Basic Account of Belief 297 3 How Is False Belief or Error Possible? 299 4 If Belief Can Be False, How Is Knowledge Possible? 300 5 How Is It Possible to Believe and Know the Same Objects? 303 6 How Could Belief Be of Any Use to Philosophy? 304 7 Conclusion 310 Notes 311 Appendix on Translation 315 Bibliography 316 Aristotelian Grace 318 1 Introduction 318 2 Examples 319 3 Other Forms of Grace 320 4 Grace as a Natural Force 321 5 Gratitude and Grace 321 6 “Lafayette, We Are Here” 322 7 The Daughter of Grace 323 8 A Regress 323 9 Lafayette Revisited 324 Notes 324 Bibliography 325 The Works of David Keyt 326 Index 329 This distinctive collection of original articles features contributions from many of the leading scholars of ancient Greek philosophy. They explore the concept of reason and the method of analysis and the central role they play in the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They engage with salient themes in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political theory, as well as tracing links between each thinker's ideas on selected topics. The volume contains analyses of Plato's Socrates, focusing on his views of moral psychology, the obligation to obey the law, the foundations of politics, justice and retribution, and Socratic virtue. On Plato's Republic, the discussions cover the relationship between politics and philosophy, the primacy of reason over the soul's non-rational capacities, the analogy of the city and the soul, and our responsibility for choosing how we live our own lives. The anthology also probes Plato's analysis of logos (reason or language) which underlies his philosophy including the theory of forms. A quartet of reflections explores Aristotelian themes including the connections between knowledge and belief, the nature of essence and function, and his theories of virtue and grace. The volume begins with an intellectual memoir by David Keyt that recounts his adventures as a philosopher and scholar during the rise of analytic classical scholarship in the past century. Along the way, Keyt relates entertaining anecdotes involving major figures in modern academic philosophy. Blending academic authority with creative flair and demonstrating the continuing interest of ancient Greek philosophy, this book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all those studying and researching the origins of Western philosophy Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-9 A Life in the Academy....Pages 11-44 Moral Psychology in Plato’s Apology ....Pages 45-53 Socrates, the Athenian....Pages 55-66 Socrates on the Impossibility of a Reasonable Politics....Pages 67-90 Retaliation in the Crito ....Pages 91-108 How Virtuous Was Socrates?....Pages 109-123 Plato’s Republic , as a Vocation....Pages 125-145 Soul, Soul-Parts, and Persons in Plato....Pages 147-170 Just City and Just Soul in Plato’s Republic ....Pages 171-195 Virtue, Luck, and Choice at the End of the Republic ....Pages 197-209 The Grounds of Logos : The Interweaving of Forms....Pages 211-230 Accidental Beings in Aristotle’s Ontology....Pages 231-242 Is There Room for Plato in an Aristotelian Theory of Essence?....Pages 243-269 Metaphysics Z.11 and Functionalism....Pages 271-283 Aristotle on Belief and Knowledge....Pages 285-307 Aristotelian Grace....Pages 309-316 Back Matter....Pages 317-329