Socrates in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Publications of the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College London)

Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, of Alopece is arguably the most richly and diversely commemorated - and appropriated - of all ancient thinkers. Already in Antiquity, vigorous controversy over his significance and value ensured a wide range of conflicting representations. He then became available to the medieval, renaissance and modern worlds in a provocative variety of roles: as paradigmatic philosopher and representative (for good or ill) of ancient philosophical culture in general; as practitioner of a distinctive philosophical method, and a distinctive philosophical lifestyle; as the ostensible originator of startling doctrines about politics and sex; as martyr (the victim of the most extreme of all miscarriages of justice); as possessor of an extraordinary, and extraordinarily significant physical appearance; and as the archetype of the hen-pecked intellectual. To this day, he continues to be the most readily recognized of ancient philosophers, as much in popular as in academic culture. This volume, along with its companion, Socrates from Antiquity to the Enlightenment, aims to do full justice to the source material (philosophical, literary, artistic, political), and to the range of interpretative issues it raises. It opens with an Introduction summarizing the reception of Socrates up to 1800, and describing scholarly study since then. This is followed by sections on the hugely influential Socrateses of Hegel, Kirkegaard and Nietzsche; representations of Socrates (particularly his erotic teaching) principally inspired by Plato's Symposium; and political manipulations of Socratic material, especially in the 20th century. A distinctive feature is the inclusion of Cold War Socrateses, both capitalist and communist. With contributions by both established and rising scholars, Socrates in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries surveys interpretations and uses of this most iconic of all ancient philosophers over the past two centuries, principally outside the confines of formal philosophy. The representations discussed range from the hugely influential readings of Hegel, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, to presentations and exploitations of Socrates in twentieth-century American political discourse and Cold War Bulgaria. Special attention is given to perceptions inspired—in drama, music and visual art—by the Socrates of Plato's Symposium. A companion volume deals with Socrates from Antiquity to the Enlightenment.

Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, of Alopece is arguably the most richly and diversely commemorated—and appropriated—of all ancient thinkers. Already in Antiquity, vigorous controversy over his significance and value ensured a wide range of conflicting representations. He then became available to the medieval, renaissance and modern worlds in a provocative variety of roles: as paradigmatic philosopher and representative (for good or ill) of ancient philosophical culture in general as practitioner of a distinctive philosophical method, and a distinctive philosophical lifestyle as the ostensible originator of startling doctrines about politics and sex as martyr (the victim of the most extreme of all miscarriages of justice) as possessor of an extraordinary, and extraordinarily significant physical appearance and as the archetype of the hen-pecked intellectual. To this day, he continues to be the most readily recognized of ancient philosophers, as much in popular as inacademic culture.

This volume, along with its companion, Socrates from Antiquity to the Enlightenment, aims to do full justice to the source material (philosophical, literary, artistic, political), and to the range of interpretative issues it raises. It opens with an Introduction summarizing the reception of Socrates up to 1800, and describing scholarly study since then. This is followed by sections on the hugely influential Socrateses of Hegel, Kirkegaard and Nietzsche
representations of Socrates (particularly his erotic teaching) principally inspired by Plato's Symposium
and political manipulations of Socratic material, especially in the 20th century. A distinctive feature is the inclusion of Cold War Socrateses, both capitalist and communist.

Introduction: the nineteenth- and - twentieth- century Socrates / Michael Trapp Socrates in Hegel / Glenn W. Most A simple wise man of ancient times: Kierkegaard on Socrates / George Pattison Nietzsche's Socrateases / Michael Silk Later views of the Socrates of Plato's Symposium / James Lesher Anselm Feuerbach's Das Gastmahl des Platon / John Henderson From amor Socraticus to Socrates amoris: Socrates and the formation of a sexual identity in late Victorian Britain / Alastair Blanshard The thorn of Sokrates: Georg Kaiser's Alkibiades saved and Bertolt Brecht's Sokrates wounded / John J. White 'Socrates knew ...' affect (Besetzung) in Britten's Death in Venice / Christopher Wintle Effacing Socratic irony: philosophy and technê in John Stuart Mill's translation of the Protagoras / Alexandra Lianeri Totalitarian Socrates / Iskra Gencheva-Mikami 'Gadfly in God's own country': Socrates in twentieth-century America / Melissa Lane. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Foreword Contributors List of figures Introduction: the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Socrates 1. Socrates in Hegel 2. A simple wise man of ancient times: Kierkegaard on Socrates 3. Nietzsche's Socrateases 4. Later views of the Socrates of Plato's Symposium 5. Anselm Feuerbach's Das Gastmahl des Platon 6. From amor Socraticus to Socrates amoris: Socrates and the formation of a sexual identity in late Victorian Britain 7. The thorn of Sokrates: Georg Kaiser's Alkibiades Saved and Bertolt Brecht's Sokrates Wounded 8. 'Socrates knew . . .' affect (Besetzung) in Britten's Death in Venice 9. Effacing Socratic irony: philosophy and technê in John Stuart Mill's translation of the Protagoras 10. Totalitarian Socrates 11. 'Gadfly in God's Own Country': Socrates in twentieth-century America General bibliography Index Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, of Alopece is arguably the most richly and diversely commemorated - and appropriated - of all ancient thinkers. This book gives an introduction surveying the ancient accounts of Socrates, and discussing the origins and the state of the 'Socratic question'. It also summarizes the reception of Socrates up to 1800.