Socrates, Plato, and Their Tradition

Description

Gregory Vlastos (1907-1991) was one of the twentieth century’s most influential scholars of ancient philosophy. Over a span of more than fifty years, he published essays and book reviews that established his place as a leading authority on early Greek philosophy. The two volumes that comprise Studies in Greek Philosophy include nearly forty contributions by this acknowledged master of the philosophical essay. Many of these pieces are now considered to be classics in the field. Perhaps more than any other modern scholar, Gregory Vlastos was responsible for raising standards of research, analysis, and exposition in classical philosophy to new levels of excellence. His essays have served as paradigms of scholarship for several generations. Available for the first time in a comprehensive collection, these contributions reveal the author’s ability to combine the skills of a philosopher, philologist, and historian of ideas in addressing some of the most difficult problems of ancient philosophy. Volume I collects Vlastos’s essays on Presocratic philosophy. Wide-ranging concept studies link Greek science, religion, and politics with philosophy. Individual studies illuminate the thought of major philosophers such as Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, and Democritus. A magisterial series of studies on Zeno of Elea reveals the author’s power in source criticism and logical analysis. Volume II contains essays on the thought of Socrates, Plato, and later thinkers and essays dealing with ethical, social, and political issues as well as metaphysics, science, and the foundations of mathematics. Contents Cover Page Half Title Page Author Title Page Copyright Page CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION NOTE ON TEXTUAL CONVENTIONS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PART ONE: SOCRATES 1. The Paradox of Socrates 2. Platis’s Socrates' Accusers 3. Brickhouse and Smith’s Socrates on Trial 4. Socrates on Political Obedience and Disobedience 5. Socrates on Acrasia 6. Was Polus Refuted? PART TWO: PLATO A. ETHICS, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THEORY 7. The Theory of Social Justice in the Polis in Plato’s Republic 8. The Rights of Persons in Plato’s Conception of the Foundations of Justice 9. The Virtuous and the Happy: Irwin’s Plato's Moral Theory 10. Was Plato a Feminist? B. METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY 11. Anamnesis in the Meno 12a. The Third Man Argument in the Parmenides 12b. Addendum to the Third Man Argument in the Parmenides 12c. Addenda to the Third Man Argument: A Reply to Professor Sellars 12d. Postscript to the Third Man: A Reply to Mr. Geach 13. On a Proposed Redefinition of “Self-Predication” in Plato C. SCIENCE 14. The Role of Observation in Plato’s Conception of Astronomy 15. Disorderly Motion in Plato’s Timaeus 16. Creation in the Timaeus: Is It a Fiction? PART THREE: AFTER PLATO 17. A Note on the Unmoved Mover 18. Minimal Parts in Epicurean Atomism 19. Zeno of Sidon as a Critic of Euclid BIBLIOGRAPHY: THE WORKS OF GREGORY VLASTOS INDEX LOCORUM GENERAL INDEX