Socrates: Ironist And Moral Philosopher - Softcover

Vlastos, Gregory

Softcover

ISBN 10: 052131450X ISBN 13: 9780521314503

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1991

Synopsis

This long-awaited study of the most enigmatic figure of Greek philosophy reclaims Socrates' ground-breaking originality. Written by a leading historian of Greek thought, it argues for a Socrates who, though long overshadowed by his successors Plato and Aristotle, marked the true turning point in Greek philosophy, religion and ethics. The quest for the historical figure focuses on the Socrates of Plato's earlier dialogues, setting him in sharp contrast to that other Socrates of later dialogues, where he is used as a mouthpiece for Plato's often anti-Socratic doctrine. At the heart of the book is the paradoxical nature of Socratic thought. But the paradoxes are explained, not explained away. The book highlights the tensions in the Socratic search for the answer to the question 'How should we live?' Conceived as a divine mandate, the search is carried out through elenctic argument, and dominated by an uncompromising rationalism. The magnetic quality of Socrates' personality is allowed to emerge throughout the book. Clearly and forcefully written, philosophically sophisticated but entirely accessible to non-specialists, this book will be of major importance and interest to all those studying ancient philosophy and the history of Western thought.

About this title

Review:

"This is the best book available on its subject. No other book written by someone with such deep knowledge can speak with so much authority to scholars and still be so enjoyable for general readers. Philosophical writing now tends to be excessively technical and academic. Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher is not; it can take many different kinds of people to the heart of the most puzzling and important features of Socrates."--Julia Annas, New York Times Book Review

"Gregory Vlastos's book begins from the conviction that Socrates' strangeness is 'the key to his philosophy.' It is a marvelous book, in which no major aspect of Socrates' career is eclipsed. The rigor of his arguments, the depth of his moral commitment and understanding, his complex relationship to Athenian ethical traditions, his rational religion: all this comes to life in writing whose vigor and lucidity put the challenge of Socrates squarely before the reader. . . . It deserves as much honor as any work of scholarship in Greek philosophy in this century."--Martha C. Nussbaum, The New Republic

"What can be surmised about this extraordinary and arresting figure has been brilliantly presented and argued in this closely reasoned book, for which we are all greatly in Gregory Vlastas's debt."--Charles Taylor, Times Literary Supplement

Book Description:

This long-awaited study of the most enigmatic figure of Greek philosophy reclaims Socrates' originality. Written by a leading historian of Greek thought, it argues for a Socrates who marked the true turning point in Greek philosophy, religion and ethics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 052131450X
• ISBN 13: 9780521314503
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 348