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......Page 8 Contents......Page 10 Contributors......Page 12 Abbreviations of Plato’s Works......Page 16 Abbreviations of Aristotle’s Works......Page 18 Introduction......Page 19 Bibliography......Page 27 1 Arsenal Technical High School......Page 28 2 Kenyon College......Page 29 3 Cornell University......Page 31 4 The U.S. Army......Page 33 5 The University of Washington......Page 34 6 The 1960s......Page 36 7 The 1970s......Page 39 8 Princeton and Hong Kong......Page 43 9 The Road Not Taken......Page 47 10 Working with Others......Page 48 11 August in Greece......Page 52 12 The New Century......Page 53 13 Last Things......Page 57 Works Cited......Page 58 1 Introduction......Page 62 2 Text #1: Apology 21b1-23e3......Page 64 3 Text #2: Apology 29e3-30a3......Page 66 4 Text #3: Apology 32b1-32d4......Page 67 6 Conclusion......Page 68 Notes......Page 69 Bibliography......Page 70 Socrates, the Athenian......Page 71 Notes......Page 81 Bibliography......Page 82 Socrates on the Impossibility of a Reasonable Politics......Page 83 1 Three Paradoxes......Page 84 2 A Grand Isolationism......Page 87 3 A Reluctant Isolationism......Page 89 4 A New Isolationism......Page 91 4.1 A Conceptual Breakthrough......Page 93 4.2 Socrates as Partisan......Page 96 4.3 Lobbying as a Profession......Page 97 5 Pessimism......Page 100 6 Resolving the Paradoxes......Page 102 Notes......Page 104 Bibliography......Page 105 1 Setting the Stage......Page 107 2 The Project......Page 109 3 Proving the Major Premise......Page 110 4 Proving the Minor Premise......Page 119 Notes......Page 123 Bibliography......Page 124 2 The Philosophical Significance of Socrates’ Moral Character......Page 125 3 The Socratic Problem and the Character of Socrates......Page 128 4 The Speech of Alcibiades and Socrates’ Attitude toward Eros in the Symposium......Page 129 5 Interpretations of Alcibiades’ Speech......Page 130 6 Alcibiades’ Speech and the Problem of Humor......Page 132 7 The Irony and Humor of Alcibiades......Page 133 8 Concluding Considerations......Page 136 Bibliography......Page 138 Plato’s Republic as a Vocation......Page 140 1 Weber and Wolin......Page 141 2 Education in the Republic......Page 146 3 Institutional Design......Page 151 4 The Principle of Specialization and Vocations......Page 154 Notes......Page 158 Bibliography......Page 159 1 Reason......Page 161 2 Appetite......Page 167 3 Spirit......Page 172 4 Ruling the Soul......Page 177 5 Souls and Persons......Page 178 Notes......Page 183 Bibliography......Page 184 Just City and Just Soul in Plato’s Republic......Page 185 1 The Functional Theory of Good and Virtue......Page 186 2 The Isomorphism Between Just City and Just Soul......Page 187 3 Parts of the Soul: Agents or Faculties?......Page 190 4 Is Plato’s Completely Good City Intellectually, Politically, and Ethically Elitist?......Page 197 5 The Virtues and Vices of Isomorphism......Page 203 Notes......Page 205 Bibliography......Page 208 Virtue, Luck, and Choice at the End of the Republic......Page 210 Notes......Page 219 Bibliography......Page 221 1 Interwoven Forms and the Simple Semantic Theory......Page 223 2 Positioning Plato’s Remark......Page 225 3 A Problem for Plato......Page 227 4 Introducing Precision......Page 229 5 A Platonic Sense Structure......Page 231 Notes......Page 238 Bibliography......Page 241 Accidental Beings in Aristotle’s Ontology......Page 243 Notes......Page 252 Bibliography......Page 253 Is There Room for Plato in an Aristotelian Theory of Essence?......Page 255 1.1 The Basic Argument for Sameness......Page 257 1.2 Plato and the Elaboration of the Basic Argument......Page 260 2.1 “Severance” and Its Consequences: 1031b3-11......Page 264 2.2 A Fresh Argument for Identity: Severance and a Principle from the Theory of Izzing and Having......Page 265 3.1 The Applications of Uniformity: Fallacy, or True Platonic Doctrine?......Page 267 3.2 Fallacy Again, or More True Doctrine?......Page 271 3.3 Aristotle on How Plato’s Forms Are Inessential to His Argument......Page 272 Notes......Page 273 Appendix......Page 279 Bibliography......Page 281 Metaphysics Z.11 and Functionalism......Page 282 1 Aristotle’s Anti-reductionism: Matter Depends on Form......Page 283 2 The Appearance of Compositional Plasticity in Metaphysics 1036a33-b3......Page 285 3 A Reading of Z.11 1036a-b32......Page 288 Notes......Page 291 Bibliography......Page 293 Aristotle on Belief and Knowledge......Page 295 1 Four Problems Concerning Belief......Page 296 2 Aristotle’s Basic Account of Belief......Page 297 3 How Is False Belief or Error Possible?......Page 299 4 If Belief Can Be False, How Is Knowledge Possible?......Page 300 5 How Is It Possible to Believe and Know the Same Objects?......Page 303 6 How Could Belief Be of Any Use to Philosophy?......Page 304 7 Conclusion......Page 310 Notes......Page 311 Appendix on Translation......Page 315 Bibliography......Page 316 1 Introduction......Page 318 2 Examples......Page 319 3 Other Forms of Grace......Page 320 5 Gratitude and Grace......Page 321 6 “Lafayette, We Are Here”......Page 322 8 A Regress......Page 323 Notes......Page 324 Bibliography......Page 325 The Works of David Keyt......Page 326 Index......Page 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