Virtues of Authenticity: Essays on Plato and Socrates

412 Pages·1998·16.999 MB·English

by  Alexander Nehamas

N31
1999
Virtues of Authenticity

Virtues of Authenticity
ESSAYS ON PLATO AND SOCRATES
Alexander Nehamas
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1999 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nehamas, Alexander, 1946-
Virtues of authenticity : essays on Plato and Socrates / Alexander
Nehamas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-691-00177-4 (alk. paper). — ISBN 0-691-00178-2 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Plato. 2. Socrates. I. Title.
B395.N44 1998
184—dc21 98-7109
CIP
This book has been composed in Galhard
Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources
http://pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
In memory of Gregory Vlastos

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction xv
I. Socrates: Questions of Goodness and Method
One
Meno’s Paradox and Socrates as a Teacher 3
Two
Socratic Intellectualism 27
Three
What Did Socrates Teach and to Whom Did He Teach It? 59
Four
Voices of Silence: On Gregory Vlastos’s Socrates 83
Five
Eristic, Antilogic, Sophistic, Dialectic: Plato’s Demarcation of
Philosophy from Sophistry 108
II. Plato: Questions of Metaphysics and Epistemology
Six
On Parmenides’ Three Ways of Inquiry 125
Seven
Plato on the Imperfection of the Sensible World 138
Eight
Confusing Universals and Particulars in Plato’s Early Dialogues 159
Nine
Self-Predication and Plato’s Theory of Forms 176
Ten ^
Participation and Predication in Plato’s Later Thought 196
Eleven
Episteme and Logos in Plato’s Later Thought 224
viii CONTENTS
III. Plato: Questions of Beauty and the Arts
Twelve
Plato on Imitation and Poetry in Republic X 251
Thirteen
Plato and the Mass Media 279
IV Plato: Individual Works
Fourteen
The Symposium 303
Fifteen
The Republic 316
Sixteen
The Phaedrus 329
Index of Passages Cited 359
General Index 365