The Bloomsbury Handbook of Socrates (Bloomsbury Handbooks)

✍ Scribed by Russell E. Jones (editor), Ravi Sharma (editor), Nicholas D. Smith (editor)

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 425
• Edition: 2
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This handbook provides detailed philosophical analysis of the life and thought of Socrates across fifteen in-depth chapters. Each chapter engages with a central aspect of the rich tradition of Socratic studies and, after surveying the state of scholarship, points the way forward to new directions of interpretation.

A leading team of scholars present dynamic readings of Socrates, extracted from the historical context of Plato's dialogues, covering elenchus, irony, ignorance, definitions, pedagogy, friendship, politics and the daemon. Building on these core Socratic topics, this edition includes new accounts of Socrates in the work of philosopher and historian, Xenophon, the comic playwright, Aristophanes, as well as important scholarship on topics such as emotions, the afterlife, motivational intellectualism and virtue intellectualism.

Fully revised and updated, the Bloomsbury Handbook of Socrates elucidates the complex landscape of Socratic thought and interpretation.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Halftitle page
Also available from Bloomsbury
Title page
Copyright page
CONTENTS
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
PREFACE
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER ONE Socrates in Old Comedy
I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE NEW WISDOM
III. SOCRATES ON STAGE: CHRONOLOGY AND DRAMATIC SETTING
IV. ARISTOPHANES
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER TWO Xenophon’s Socrates on Teaching and Learning
I. SETTING THE CONTEXT
II. INTELLECTUALISM
III. SOCRATES, KNOWER AND TEACHER
IV. PROBLEMATISING SOCRATES AS KNOWER AND TEACHER
V. A PROPOSED SOLUTION
VI. A CASE STUDY: CRITIAS AND ALCIBIADES
CHAPTER THREE Socratic Methods
‘THE SOCRATIC METHOD’
DOES SOCRATES HAVE A METHOD?
SOCRATIC EXAMINATION
SOCRATIC EXHORTATION
THE SOCRATIC METHOD
CHAPTER FOUR Socrates and the Forms
INTRODUCTION
THE EUTHYPHRO AND THE EARLY THEORY OF FORMS: ALLEN
RADICAL DEVELOPMENTALISM AND THE CRITIQUE OF THE EARLY THEORY OF FORMS: VLASTOS, DANCY AND WOODRUFF
CRITIQUE OF THE CRITICS (I)
THE UNITARIAN ALTERNATIVE: KAHN AND FRONTEROTTA
CRITIQUE OF THE CRITICS (II)
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIVE Socratic Ignorance
I. INTRODUCTION
II. TWO QUESTIONS
III. SOCRATES’ DISAVOWALS
IV. SOCRATIC KNOWLEDGE
V. RESTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM OF SOCRATIC IGNORANCE AND A SURVEY OF PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
CHAPTER SIX The Priority of Definition
I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE PRINCIPLE
III. SOCRATES’ ENDORSEMENT OF (PD)?
IV. THE LANDSCAPE OF INTERPRETATIONS
V. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER SEVEN Socratic Virtue Intellectualism
INTRODUCTION: SOCRATIC INTELLECTUALISM
SOCRATIC VIRTUE THEORY
THE PENNER-VLASTOS DEBATE
THE DEVEREUX DISCREPANCY
SOCRATIC DEFINITION: THE ‘WHAT IS F-NESS?’ QUESTION
RECONCILIATION INTERPRETATIONS
SUB-DISCIPLINES AND APPLICATIONS
THE RESULTS OF PIETY AND JUSTICE
VIRTUE AND EUDAIMONIA
THE RESULT OF VIRTUE AS A CRAFT
CHAPTER EIGHT Socratic Eudaimonism
IS SOCRATES HAPPY THROUGH VIRTUE?
WHY DOES WRONGDOING LEAD TO MISERY?
EXTERNAL INJURIES AND BENEFITS: DEPENDENT GOODS
HAPPINESS: WELL-BEING OR GOOD FEELINGS?
EUDAIMONIST THEORIES ATTRIBUTED TO SOCRATES: A TAXONOMY
SOCRATIC REASONING: WHY AVOID MORAL INJURY
SOCRATIC REASONING: JUSTICE
THE CHARGE OF EGOISM
RATIONALITY
CONCLUSIONS
CHAPTER NINE Socratic Motivational Intellectualism
WHAT IS MOTIVATIONAL INTELLECTUALISM?
WE ALL DESIRE THE GOOD
EMOTIONS, APPETITES AND NON-RATIONAL DESIRES
WRONGDOING AND PUNISHMENT
IS SOCRATES AN INTELLECTUALIST ABOUT HUMAN MOTIVATION?
CHAPTER TEN Socrates On Love
INTRODUCTION: SOCRATES AS LOVER
DO LYSIS’ PARENTS LOVE HIM?
SOCRATES’ POSITIVE PROPOSAL
INTERPRETATIVE PROBLEMS FOR THE POSITIVE PROPOSAL
THE VLASTOS OBJECTION
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER ELEVEN Socrates on Emotions
I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE MOTIVATIONAL EFFICACY OF THE NON-RATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE HUMAN SOUL
III. EMOTIONS AS COGNITIONS
IV. FEAR
V. SHAME AND ITS ROLE IN PERSUASION
VI. ANGER
VII. ENVY
VIII. GRIEF
IX. CONCLUDING REMARKS
CHAPTER TWELVE Socrates’ Political Philosophy
I. INTRODUCTION
II. SOCRATES AS POLITICAL PRACTITIONER
III. INTERPRETATIONS AND CONTROVERSIES
IV. WAS SOCRATES AN ‘AUTHORITARIAN’ OR A‘LIBERTARIAN’ POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER?
V. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Socratic Theology and Piety
I. HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM
II. GREEK RELIGION
III. THE PUZZLES OF ‘SOCRATIC RELIGION’
IV. SOCRATIC PIETY AND PHILOSOPHY
V. SOCRATIC REASON AND REVELATION
VI. SOCRATIC THEOLOGY
VII. SOCRATES ON TRIAL
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Socrates on Death and the Afterlife
DEATH IN PLATO’S APOLOGY
THE AFTERLIFE
COURAGE AND THE FEAR OF DEATH
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Trial of Socrates
I. INTRODUCTION
II. LEGAL PRELIMINARIES
III. THE POLITICAL INTERPRETATION
IV. THE RELIGIOUS INTERPRETATION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL INDEX