Plato and the Art of Philosophical Writing [Paperback]

A major reassessment by a senior scholar of the whole of Plato's work and philosophical approach.Major reassessment by a senior scholar of the whole of Platos work and philosophical approach. His dialogues are not simple examples of philosophy in action but rather literary-philosophical artefacts, shaped by his desire to persuade his readers to change their view of life and the universe.Major reassessment by a senior scholar of the whole of Platos work and philosophical approach. His dialogues are not simple examples of philosophy in action but rather literary-philosophical artefacts, shaped by his desire to persuade his readers to change their view of life and the universe.Plato's dialogues are usually understood as simple examples of philosophy in action. In this book Professor Rowe treats them rather as literary-philosophical artefacts, shaped by Plato's desire to persuade his readers to exchange their view of life and the universe for a different view which, from their present perspective, they will barely begin to comprehend. What emerges is a radically new Plato: a Socratic throughout, who even in the late dialogues is still essentially the Plato (and the Socrates) of the Apology and the so-called 'Socratic' dialogues. This book aims to understand Plato both as a philosopher and as a writer, on the assumption that neither of these aspects of the dialogues can be understood without the other. The argument of the book is closely based in Plato's text, but should be accessible to any serious reader of Plato, whether professional philosopher, classicist, or student.Preliminaries: reading Plato; The dialogues; Introduction: The simile of the cave in the Republic; 1. The Apology: Socrates' defence, Plato's manifesto; 2. The Phaedo: Socrates' defence continued; 3. 'Examining myself and others', I: knowledge and soul in Charmides, First Alcibiades, Meno, Republic, Euthyphro, Phaedrus; 4. The moral psychology of the Gorgias; 5. 'Examining myself and others', II: soull#X