Plato's Sun-Like Good: Dialectic in the Republic

Author:   Sarah Broadie (University of St Andrews, Scotland)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781316516874


Pages:   240
Publication Date:   22 July 2021
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Our Price $194.06 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Plato's Sun-Like Good: Dialectic in the Republic


Add your own review!

Overview

Plato's Sun-Like Good is a revolutionary discussion of the Republic's philosopher-rulers, their dialectic, and their relation to the form of the good. With detailed arguments Sarah Broadie explains how, if we think of the form of the good as 'interrogative', we can re-conceive those central reference-points of Platonism in down-to-earth terms without loss to our sense of Plato's philosophical greatness. The book's main aims are: first, to show how for Plato the form of the good is of practical value in a way that we can understand; secondly, to make sense of the connection he draws between dialectic and the form of the good; and thirdly, to make sense of the relationship between the form of the good and other forms while respecting the contours of the sun-good analogy and remaining faithful to the text of the Republic itself.

Full Product Details

Author:   Sarah Broadie (University of St Andrews, Scotland)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9781316516874


ISBN 10:   1316516873
Pages:   240
Publication Date:   22 July 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Part 1. Approaching the Sun-Good Analogy: 1.1 Introductory; 1.2 The philosopher-rulers' intellectual task; 1.3 'The most important thing to learn': Between plural and singular; 1.4 What further knowledge does the longer way achieve?; Part 2. The Form of the Good and Knowledge: 2.1 Sun, cave, and sun again; 2.2 Connecting sun and line; 2.3 Higher and lower intellectual levels; 2.4 Mathematical versus dialectical hypotheses; 2.5 Sapheneia; 2.6 The form of the good as non-hypothetical principle; 2.7 Dialectic and the good: Some questions; 2.8 The role of the form of the good in dialectic; 2.9 Some objections and replies; 2.10 Textual counterevidence; 2.11 The non-hypothetical principle as first premiss?; 2.12 The form of the good as object of definition?; 2.13 Dialectic and experience; 2.14 Diagrams, dialectic, and context; 2.15 Dialectic in government; 2.16 Not rigorous enough?; 2.17 Why is dialectic cognitively superior to mathematics?; 2.18 Why are we shown so little about dialectic in the Republic?; 2.19 True philosophers versus sight-lovers; 2.20 Criteria and scope of 'good'; 2.21 Main positions of Parts 1 and 2; Part 3. The Form of the Good and Being: 3.1 Preliminaries; 3.2 First proposal; 3.3 Interim discussion of 505a2-4; 3.4 Second proposal; 3.5 Perfectionist accounts; 3.6 System accounts; Part 4. Various Further Questions: 4.1 Ambiguity of 'the good' (I); 4.2 Ambiguity of 'the good' (II); 4.3 Why the mathematical education?; 4.4 Cosmology, theology; Part 5. Winding Up.

Reviews

'Sarah Broadie's new book is one of the most exciting and important books I have read on Plato's Republic. Its rigorous and systematic challenge to orthodox ways of understanding what the form of good is, and why mathematics plays a central role in a philosopher's education, will be debated for many years to come.' Richard Kraut, Northwestern University


'Sarah Broadie's new book is one of the most exciting and important books I have read on Plato's Republic. Its rigorous and systematic challenge to orthodox ways of understanding what the form of good is, and why mathematics plays a central role in a philosopher's education, will be debated for many years to come.' Richard Kraut, Northwestern University


Author Information

Sarah Broadie is Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. She is author of Aristotle and Beyond: Essays on Metaphysics and Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2007) and Nature and Divinity in Plato's Timaeus (Cambridge University Press, 2011), and editor of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: A Philosophical Introduction and Commentary (2002). She has published dozens of book chapters and articles on Plato and Aristotle, and was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to classical philosophy.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

Aorrng

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List