The Bloomsbury Companion to Plato (Bloomsbury Companions)

Plato, mathematician, philosopher and founder of the Academy in Athens, is, together with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, universally considered to have laid the foundations of Western philosophy. T he Bloomsbury Companion to Plato provides a comprehensive and accessible study guide to Plato's thought. Written by a team of leading experts in the field of ancient philosophy, this companion covers five major areas; - Plato's life and his historical, philosophical and literary context - synopses of all the dialogues attributed to Plato - the most important features of the dialogues - the key themes and topics apparent in the dialogues - Plato's enduring influence and the various interpretative approaches applied to his thought throughout the history of philosophy Covering every aspect of Plato's thought in over 140 entries, The Bloomsbury Companion to Plato is an engaging introduction to Plato and an essential resource for anyone working in the field of ancient philosophy. Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Contents 6 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 15 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 12 OTHER ABBREVIATIONS 14 INTRODUCTION 22 TECHNICAL TOOLS AND CONVENTIONS 26 BIBLIOGRAPHY 27 1 PLATO’S LIFE – HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT 29 PLATO’S LIFE 29 ARISTOPHANES AND INTELLECTUALS 31 EDUCATION (PAIDEIA) 33 ELEATICS 34 ISOCRATES AND LOGOGRAPHY 37 ORALITY AND LITERACY 38 POETRY (EPIC AND LYRIC) 41 PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS 42 PYTHAGOREANS 45 RHETORIC AND SPEECHMAKING 48 SOCRATES (HISTORICAL) 49 SOCRATICS (OTHER THAN PLATO) 51 THE SOPHISTS 54 2 THE DIALOGUES 57 THE PLATONIC CORPUS AND MANUSCRIPT TRADITION 57 ALCIBIADES I 59 THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES 60 CHARMIDES 62 CLITOPHON 65 CRATYLUS 67 CRITO 68 DUBIA AND SPURIA 70 EUTHYDEMUS 73 EUTHYPHRO 76 GORGIAS 77 HIPPIAS MAJOR 79 HIPPIAS MINOR 82 ION 83 LACHES 84 LAWS 86 LETTERS 88 LYSIS 90 MENEXENUS 92 MENO 93 PARMENIDES 95 PHAEDO 97 PHAEDRUS 99 PHILEBUS 102 POLITICUS (STATESMAN) 104 PROTAGORAS 106 REPUBLIC 108 SOPHIST 112 SYMPOSIUM 114 THEAETETUS 117 THEAGES 119 TIMAEUS AND CRITIAS 120 3 IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE DIALOGUES 122 ANONYMITY 122 ARGUMENT (see Logos (Ch. 4)) 124 CHARACTER (FEATURE) 124 DRAMA 126 HISTORY 128 HUMOUR 129 IRONY 131 LANGUAGE 132 LITERARY COMPOSITION 134 MUSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE DIALOGUES 136 MYTH 139 PEDAGOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE DIALOGUES 140 PEDIMENTAL STRUCTURE OF THE DIALOGUES 142 PLAY 144 PROLEPTIC COMPOSITION 146 SOCRATES (THE CHARACTER) 147 4 TOPICS AND THEMES TREATED IN THE DIALOGUES 150 ACCOUNT (see Logos) 150 AESTHETICS 150 AKRASIA (INCONTINENCE, WEAKNESS OF WILL) 152 ANTILOGY AND ERISTICS (ERISTIC) 154 APPEARANCE AND REALITY (REALITY) 156 APPETITE (see Desire) 158 ARGUMENT (see Logos) 158 ART (technê) 158 BEAUTY (KALON) 160 BEING AND BECOMING (ON, ONTA; GIGNESTHAI) 162 CAUSE (AITIA) 164 CAVE, THE ALLEGORY OF THE 166 CHARACTER (TOPIC) 168 CITY (POLIS) 169 CONVENTION (see Law) 171 COSMOS (KOSMOS) 171 CROSS EXAMINATION (see Elenchus) 173 DAIMÔN 173 DEATH 176 DESIRE (APPETITE) (EPITHUMIA) 178 DIALECTIC (DIALEKTIKÊ) 180 DIVIDED LINE 182 EDUCATION 184 ELENCHUS (CROSS-EXAMINATION, REFUTATION) 186 EPISTEMOLOGY (KNOWLEDGE) 188 ERISTIC (see Antilogy and eristics) 190 ERÔS (see Love) 190 ETHICS 190 EUDAIMONIA (see Happiness) 192 EXCELLENCE (VIRTUE) (ARETÊ) 192 FORMS (EIDOS) (IDEA) 194 FRIENDSHIP (PHILIA) 196 GOODNESS (THE GOOD, AGATHON) 198 HAPPINESS (EUDAIMONIA) 200 IDEA (see Forms) 201 IMAGE (EIKÔN) 201 IMITATION (see Mimêsis) 203 INCONTINENCE (see Akrasia) 203 INSPIRATION 203 INTELLECTUALISM 205 JUSTICE (DIKAION, DIKAIOSYNÊ) 207 KNOWLEDGE (see Epistemology) 209 LANGUAGE 209 LAW (CONVENTION) (NOMOS) 212 LOGIC 213 LOGOS (ACCOUNT, ARGUMENT) (DEFINITION, STATEMENT) 215 LOVE (ERÔS) 217 MADNESS AND POSSESSION 219 MATHEMATICS (MATHÊMATIKÊ) 221 MEDICINE (IATRIKÊ) 223 METAPHYSICS (see Ontology) 226 METHOD 226 MIMÊSIS (IMITATION) 228 MUSIC 230 MYTH (MUTHOS) 232 NATURE (PHUSIS) 234 NOMOS (see Law) 236 NON-PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE 236 THE ONE (TO HEN) 238 ONTOLOGY (METAPHYSICS) 239 PAIDERASTIA (PEDERASTY) 241 PARTICIPATION 243 PERCEPTION AND SENSATION (AISTHÊSIS, AISTHANOMAI) (SENSATION) 246 PHILOSOPHY AND THE PHILOSOPHER 248 PHUSIS (see Nature) 250 PIETY (EUSEBEIA, HOSIOS) 250 PLEASURE (HÊDONÊ) 252 POETRY (POIÊSIS) 254 POLIS (see City) 256 POLITICS AND THE FIGURE OF THE POLITICUS 256 REALITY (see Appearance and reality) 258 REASON 258 RECOLLECTION (ANAMNÊSIS) 261 REFUTATION (see Elenchus) 262 RHETORIC (RHETORIKÊ) 262 SELF-KNOWLEDGE 264 SENSATION (see Perception and sensation) 266 SOPHISTS 266 SOUL (PSYCHÊ) 268 THE SUN SIMILE 271 THEOLOGY 272 VIRTUE (see Excellence) 274 VISION 274 WEAKNESS OF WILL (see Akrasia) 276 WOMEN 276 WRITING (TOPIC) 278 5 LATER RECEPTION, INTERPRETATION AND INFLUENCE OF PLATO AND THE DIALOGUES 281 Section A: The Interpretation and Influence of Plato in the Ancient World 281 ANCIENT HERMENEUTICS 281 ARISTOTLE 283 ACADEMY OF ATHENS, ANCIENT HISTORY OF 285 JEWISH PLATONISM (ANCIENT) 288 NEOPLATONISM AND ITS DIASPORA 290 Section B: The Influence of Plato in the Middle Ages and Renaissance 293 MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PLATONISM 293 MEDIEVAL JEWISH PLATONISM 295 MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN PLATONISM 297 RENAISSANCE PLATONISM 299 THE CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS 302 Section C: The Influence and Interpretation of Plato in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy 303 EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY: FROM DESCARTES TO BERKELEY 303 NINETEENTH-CENTURY PLATO SCHOLARSHIP 305 NINETEENTH-CENTURY PLATONIC SCHOLARSHIP 307 DEVELOPMENTALISM 309 COMPOSITIONAL CHRONOLOGY 310 ANALYTIC APPROACHES TO PLATO 313 VLASTOSIAN APPROACHES 315 CONTINENTAL APPROACHES 317 STRAUSSIAN READINGS OF PLATO 319 PLATO’S ‘UNWRITTEN DOCTRINES’ 321 ESOTERICISM 322 THE TÜBINGEN APPROACH 324 ANTI-PLATONISM, FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN 326 Bibliography 330 Index 370