Socrates

‘Socrates: sources and interpretations’

by Jenny Bryan

forthcoming in F. Sheffield and J. Warren (eds) Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy.

‘Consequences of Freedom: The Case of Nicias and Socrates’

by Bogdan Burliga

[in:] Freedom and Its Limits in the Ancient World [Electrum 9], eds. D. Brodka, J. Janik and S. Sprawski, Cracow 2003, pp. 21-36

Political Psychology In Plato's Alcibiades I

by Jose Daniel Parra

Dancing Naked with Socrates

by Christopher Long

This article offers an interpretation of Plato's Menexenus in which the figure of Socrates emerges as critical of both... more This article offers an interpretation of Plato's Menexenus in which the figure of Socrates emerges as critical of both the Periclean and Aspasian vision of politics. By speaking in the voice of Aspasia in the Menexenus, Socrates is able to draw out the limitations of the Periclean politics of freedom without straightforwardly identifying himself with the Aspasian politics of care. By distancing himself from both positions, Socrates elucidates the limitations of each: The Periclean vision of politics is grounded in a conception of self-sufficiency that leads to imperialism, the Aspasian in the dangerous myth of autochthony. Socrates' playful dialogue with Menexenus, and Menexenus' incapacity to appreciate the ambiguity and nuance of the Socratic position, lend new insight into the meaning and nature of philosophical citizenship. Socrates, as the philosopher citizen, distances himself from two main ideological visions of politics in such a way that a new conception of politics emerges, one grounded as much in justice as in freedom.

Socrates and the Politics of Music

by Christopher Long

At least since the appearance of Aristotle's Politics, Plato's Republic has been read as arguing for a politics of... more At least since the appearance of Aristotle's Politics, Plato's Republic has been read as arguing for a politics of unity in which difference is understood as a threat to the polis. By focusing on the musical imagery of the Republic, and specifically on its compositional organization around three "preludes," this essay seeks an understanding of Socratic politics that moves beyond the hypothesis of unity. In the first "prelude," Thrasymachus and his insistence that justice is the self-interest of the stronger threatens to subject the harmony of the community to the tyrannical whims of the individual. In the second, the perfected justice of Adeimantus's city threatens to destroy the erotic rhythm of difference that is the very condition for the possibility of the polis. It is only in the song of dialectic, which itself is called a "prelude," that the tension between the rhythm of plurality and the rational homophony of unity is dynamically tuned in such a way that both the anarchic politics of self-interest and the totalitarian politics of rationalized oppression are equally muted. This conception of politics is embodied in the relationship that emerges between Glaucon and Socrates. Ultimately, the true political community is established here, between rational, erotic individuals seeking justice in concrete, living dialogue.

The Rhetoric of Action: A Reflection on Plato's Gorgias

by Jose Daniel Parra

"Eternal Recurrence" in The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche

by Paul S. Loeb

Forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche, eds. Ken Gemes and John Richardson (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Socrates: Political Activist!

by Michael Gottlieb

Plato's Republic and Socrate's Theory Of Apolitical Citizenship

by Mykolas Gudelis

Draft only

In this paper, I revisit the text of Plato’s Republic. I do not perceive the text to be a linear continuum of... more In this paper, I revisit the text of Plato’s Republic. I do not perceive the text to be a linear continuum of sequences of dialogues in a form of vectorial progression rather, I see it as a dialectically constituted whole with the thread of the critique of democracy circulating, throughout the whole body of the text. I claim that the main challenge to the philosopher in the text of the Republic is precisely this a-nomos, an-arche’ic, alogical and “unjust” form of politics – democracy. I attempt to support this argument on two levels: first, from the more literarily-historical perspective by accentuating the settings of the very first dialogue of the text as the background where theoretical construction of Kalipolis unfolds and secondly at the theoretical level by connecting certain elements from famous critique of democracy in book VIII with elements of Socrates dialogues in books II, III and V, which delineate his argument that in the just city each has to be in his or her place and spend all of his or her time exercising one occupation exclusively.
These two elements put together form the basis on which I build my claim that Socrates’ argument of everyone in his or her place doing only what he or she is aught to do is Plato’s solution to the problem of democracy on theoretical level. It presents a successful attempt of foreclosure and eradication of the theoretical polemical space where the democratic discourse could take place. As a side effect of this theoretical move we are presented with the formation of the peculiar type of citizen, the one who is indefinitely locked within the permanent state of non-politics in a form of relations of production and exchange, removed from the realm of the exercise of political decision-making in a democratic form of self-ruling, and deprived of the natural, rational, and moral grounds of ever claiming them. In other words in theoretical context of Socrates argumentation producers in the city of Kalipolis present a paradox — apolitical citizens.

Socrates' Preference of Death to Exile

by Abolfazl Karimi

Sokratovská definícia zbožnosti - analýza dialógu Euthyfrón

by Pavol Labuda

published in Sokratika II. Sokratovská tradícia myslenia od antiky po súčasnosť (ed. Vladislav Suvák).
ACTA FACULTATIS PHILOSOPHICAE UNIVERSITATIS PREŠOVIENSIS
Filozofický zborník 31 (AFPh UP 200/282), 2007, p. 78-107.

The paper deals with the issue of Socratic definition of piety in Plato’s early dialog Euthyphro. Firstly I briefly... more The paper deals with the issue of Socratic definition of piety in Plato’s early dialog Euthyphro. Firstly I briefly analyze whole dialog and then I am making detailed analysis of main argument related to the definition of piety (10a-11b). In details the paper offers reconstruction of main argument with decision about its validity and then is deciding what are necessary and sufficient conditions of Socratic definition and what is the principle we need for justifying premises of the argument. Whereas my approach is not a historical one, in general commentary I
try to present the dialog via pointing out some issues to which Socrates’inquiries are leading and which can be signify as current ones, e.g. a possibility and conditions of real definition; argumentum ad hominem; fact/value judgments distinction, etc

Problem with Socrates

by Dean Call

Written as part of the Signature Series classes for Bellevue University

Don't Blame Socrates (Xen. Mem. 1.2. 40-46)

by Kirk Sanders

"Kierkegaard's Socratic Point of View" (abridged version), A Companion to Socrates (2006; rev. ed. 2009)

by Paul Muench

"Kierkegaard's Socratic Point of View" (long version), Kierkegaardiana 24 (2007)

by Paul Muench

"Socratic Irony, Plato's Apology, and Kierkegaard's On the Concept of Irony," Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook (2009)

by Paul Muench

Calicles y Nietzsche: dos formas contrapuestas de entender el derecho del más fuerte

by Ignacio Pajón Leyra

In Plato’s Gorgias one of Socrates interlocutors, Callicles, exposes a philosoph-ical theory based upon the supremacy... more In Plato’s Gorgias one of Socrates interlocutors, Callicles, exposes a philosoph-ical theory based upon the supremacy of the stronger over the weaker and in therefusal to accept a moral system created by these in order to restrain the powerful. Immediately, this theory reminds Nietzsche’s moral critique. The figure of Socratesserves as a counterpoint in the confrontation of both theories, because Callicles, inthe platonic text, as well as Nietzsche in his works stand in clear opposition to him.Then, we must compare both controversies in order to find out the proximity or dis-tance between Callicles’ and Nietzsche’s positions.

The Simulacra, the Simulation and the Subtext: A Literary Criticism of Socrates's Phaedrus & Baudrillard's Precession of the Simulacra

by Elizabeth Sarobhasa

The art of a simulacrum is to feign what one does not possess. The non-existing qualities instead create an... more The art of a simulacrum is to feign what one does not possess. The non-existing qualities instead create an unintended, opposing reaction: a gnomon, a shape or presence defined by its absence (Maus). However, the art of letters defines the knowledge of truth, as a subtext.  Itself, knowledge is defined as “...that has been gained for utilization and common purposes, means, sense... the result of perception and learning and reasoning (i).”  A rational mind can gain knowledge from either a stimuli (the copied experience) or from a written letter device (the subtext). Therefore, it is possible to share knowledge of one aspect of the simulacrum without the subtext, and vice versa. 

Sandis on defence of four Socratic doctrines

by John Shand

Think, 18, 2008

Fra teocentrismo e antropocentrismo etico: Socrate nell’interpretazione di Stelio Zeppi

by Giovanni Catapano

«Etica & Politica», VI/2 (2004) (http://www.units.it/etica/2004_2/CATAPANO.htm), ISSN 1825-5167, 8 pp.

Discussione dell'interpretazione di Socrate fornita da Stelio Zeppi nel libro «Il pensiero religioso dei presocratici.... more Discussione dell'interpretazione di Socrate fornita da Stelio Zeppi nel libro «Il pensiero religioso dei presocratici. Alle radici dell'ateismo» (Roma: Studium, 2003).