The Bleak Political Implications of Socratic Religion

Author:   Shadia B. Drury
Publisher:   Springer International Publishing AG
Edition:   Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017
ISBN:  

9783319853932


Pages:   271
Publication Date:   01 August 2018
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Our Price $64.66 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

The Bleak Political Implications of Socratic Religion


Add your own review!

Overview

This book poses a radical challenge to the legend of Socrates bequeathed by Plato and echoed by scholars through the ages: that Socrates was an innocent sage convicted and sentenced to death by the democratic mob, for merely questioning the political and religious ideas of his time. This legend conceals an enigma: How could a sage who was pious and good be so closely associated with the treasonous Alcibiades, who betrayed Athens in the Peloponnesian war? How could Critias and Charmides, who launched a reign of terror in Athens after her defeat, have been among his students and closest associates? The book makes the case for the prosecution, denouncing the religion of Socrates for inciting a radical politics of absolutism and monism that continues to plague Western civilization. It is time to recognize that Socrates was no liberator of the mind, but quite the contrary—he was the architect of a frightful authoritarianism, which continues to manifest itself, not only in Islamic terror, but also in liberal foreign policy. Defending Homer and the tragic poets, the book concludes that the West has imbibed from the wrong Greeks. 

Full Product Details

Author:   Shadia B. Drury
Publisher:   Springer International Publishing AG
Imprint:   Springer International Publishing AG
Edition:   Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9783319853932


ISBN 10:   3319853937
Pages:   271
Publication Date:   01 August 2018
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
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

1. The Political Case Against Socrates.- 2. The Religious Case Against Socrates.- 3. The Defense.- 4. How Plato Legitimizes the Case for the Prosecution.- 5. Plato’s Critique of Homer Repudiated.- 6. The Tragic Poets Defended.- 7. Socratic Mischief.

Reviews

This book is a provocative, polemical variation on the Nietzschean themes that Socratic philosophy was the will to power of an ugly man against a culture of beauty and that Christianity was Platonism for the masses. ... The book is a helpful reminder to contemporary scholarship that the ironic Plato also had a reformist side to elevate democracy's apolitical focus on bodily needs. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. (W. J. Coats, Choice, Vol. 55 (5), January, 2018)


Author Information

Shadia B. Drury is Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada at University of Regina, CN. She is author of Aquinas and Modernity (2008), Terror and Civilization (2004), Leo Strauss and the American Right (1997), Alexandre Kojève: The Roots of Postmodern Politics (1994), The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss (updated Edition, 2005), and is a regular contributor to Free Inquiry.

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