Overview

Plato's Republic is the master's masterpiece; but how to go about interpreting it is still disputed. Indeed, it may be a masterpiece just because how to understand it is fiercely controversial. This collection of 24 original essays by an international mix of junior and senior scholars reconsiders the Republic as a written text and rethinks its philosophical legacy. The volume seeks to explore how the Republic goes about doing philosophy with its reader without importing assumptions as to what counts as a philosophy and what does not, what should be kept and what discarded. The working assumption for uniting these different aspects is that 'Plato writes nothing in vain'. To that end, much can be learned by studying how its sections can take on different meanings between a first and subsequent re-reading.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mary Margaret McCabe (Emerita Professor of Ancient Philosophy, Kings College London) ,  Simon Trépanier (Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
ISBN:  

9781399546836

ISBN 10:   139954683
Pages:   520
Publication Date:   31 May 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.
Language:   English

Table of Contents

List of Tables Editors' Preface Notes on Contributors Introduction Part I. Rereading 1. Cephalus, patêr tou logou. Tad Brennan 2. Running before You Can’t Walk: Some Thoughts about Old Age and Epistemic Progress on Rereading the Republic Saloni M. de Souza 3. Justice in Simpler Times Timothy Clarke 4. Loving Learning: Plato’s Philosophical Dogs and the Education of the Guardians Allison Piñeros Glasscock 5. Nature in Politics and Moral Psychology Alex G. Long 6. From the Object to the Subject: Plato’s Version of the Principle of Non-Contradiction in Republic 4 Barbara M. Sattler 7. Dolphins and Dialectic Raphael Woolf 8. The Cave before Plato Simon Trépanier 9. Reflecting on Images in Plato’s Republic Tamsin de Waal 10. A New Role for the Philosopher Rulers: Situating 519c-521d in Its Argumentative Context Merrick Anderson 11. Dialectic in the Cave Hugh Benson 12. Plato’s Neglected Critiques of Democratic Cities in Republic 8 and 9: Inside and Outside the Narrative of Representative Fathers and Sons Melissa Lane 13. The Tyrant and the Failure of Philia: Rereading the Account of the Tyrannical Character Margaret Hampson 14. Pain and Perspective in Republic 9 Katharine R. O’Reilly 15. ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’: Pleasure and Happiness in Plato's Republic Joachim Aufderheide 16. Mimesis, Art and the Metaphysics of Appearances in Republic 10 Fiona Leigh 17. ‘Virtue has no master’ Ursula Coope Part II. Images, Education and the Good 18. Imagery, Utopia and Plato’s Republic Rachel Barney 19. Why the Rulers’ Mathematical Education? Sarah Broadie 20. Glaucon, Gyges and the Good Mary Margaret McCabe 21. The Good Reread: A Reply to MM Christopher Rowe 22. Breaking the Frame: Justice and Politics Inside and Outside the Republic’s City Verity Harte 23. Summing Up: ‘the dog that didn’t bark’ Brad Inwood Bibliography Index Index locorum

Reviews

The book makes a worthy addition to the Leventis Studies series and will occupy a distinctive place on the rather crowded landscape of secondary literature on the Republic.--Stephen Halliwell, University of St Andrews This is an excellent collection of essays on the Republic. It has emerged from a conference bringing together the results of a 10-year series of workshops on the different books. The collection is more unified than many which emerge from conferences as the contributors have all made a joint effort to build on the previous decade of careful readings and translations.--Julia Annas, University of Arizona

Author Information

Mary Margaret McCabe was Leventis Visiting Professor in Classics at the University of Edinburgh 2019, is Professor of Ancient Philosophy Emerita at King’s College London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She was co-conspirator with Verity Harte on the Yale-KCL Republic project 2007-16. She is proudest of being the recipient of Harte and Woolf, Re-Reading Ancient Philosophy: Old Chestnuts and Sacred Cows (CUP 2017). She is the Chair of Trustees of Philosophy in Prison, www.philosophyinprison.com Simon Trépanier is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Edinburgh. His specialties include early Greek philosophy (Empedocles in particular), Plato, literary papyrology, Epicureanism and Lucretius. Recurrent themes of interest are cosmology and physics, the relation of philosophy to literature and ancient society, and the place of religion within philosophical speculation.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions