Title:
Plato's fable : on the mortal condition in shadowy times / Joshua Mitchell.
New forum books
Republic.
New forum books.
Author:
Mitchell, Joshua.
General Notes:
Bibliography : p. [195]-201 and index.
Ch. 1. Introduction -- Imitation in mortal life -- Reason revisited : Plato's critique of "rationality" -- The mortal condition in shadowy times -- Ch. 2. Plato's fable -- Rendering each its due -- The origin of the city -- Fables, lies, and medicine -- Fool's gold -- Noble education -- and beyond -- From the city to the soul -- The philosopher -- The hunt for the good -- The decline toward tyranny -- The prisoner's dilemma -- Ethics as first science -- Ch. 3. Conclusion -- The fable of liberalism -- The Tocquevillean wager : mimesis and the mediational site of renewal -- The Socratic wager : mimesis and the philosophical practice of death.
"This book is an exploration of Plato's Republic that bypasses arcane scholarly debates. Plato's Fable provides refreshing insight into what, in Plato's view, is the central problem of life: the mortal propensity to adopt defective ways of answering the question of how to live well. How, in light of these tendencies, can humankind be saved? Joshua Mitchell discusses the question in unprecedented depth by examining one of the great books of Western civilization. He draws us beyond the ancients/moderns debate, and beyond the notion that Plato's Republic is best understood as shedding light on the promise of discursive democracy. Instead, Mitchell argues, the question that ought to preoccupy us today is neither "reason" nor "discourse," but rather "imitation." To what extent is man first and foremost an "imitative" being? This, Mitchell asserts, is the subtext of the great political and foreign policy debates of our times. Plato's Fable is not simply a work of textual exegesis. It is an attempt to move debates within political theory beyond their current location. Mitchell recovers insights about the depth of the problem of mortal imitation from Plato's magnificent work, and seeks to explicate the meaning of Plato's central claim--that "only philosophy can save us"."--Jacket.
Publisher:
Princeton University P.,
Publication Place:
Princeton :
ISBN:
0691124388 (hbk.)
9780691124384 (hbk.)
Subject:
Political anthropology -- Greece -- History.
Philosophical anthropology -- Greece -- History.
Classical literature -- History and criticism.
Plato. Republic.
Series:
New forum books
New forum books.
Contents:
Introduction -- Imitation in mortal life -- Reason revisited : Plato's critique of "rationality" -- The mortal condition in shadowy times -- Plato's fable -- Rendering each its due -- The origin of the city -- Fables, lies, and medicine -- Fool's gold -- Noble education -- and beyond -- From the city to the soul -- The philosopher -- The hunt for the good -- The decline toward tyranny -- The prisoner's dilemma -- Ethics as first science -- Conclusion -- The fable of liberalism -- The Tocquevillean wager : mimesis and the mediational site of renewal -- The Socratic wager : mimesis and the philosophical practice of death.
Physical Description:
xiii, 208 p. ;
Formatted Contents Note:
Ch. 1. Ch. 2. Ch. 3.
Electronic Location:
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0515/2005016653.html
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0834/2005016653-b.html
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0834/2005016653-d.html
Publication Date:
c2006.
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