Plato's Republic: A Dialogue in 16 Chapters

Description

In this innovative reimagining of Plato's Republic, one of philosophy's best known texts, Alain Badiou removes all references specific to ancient Greek society and modernizes the work's cultural ties. Socrates and his companions are now joined by Beckett, Pessoa, Freud, and Hegel, among others, demonstrating that true philosophy endures, always ready to absorb new horizons without changing its essence. Badiou's interlocutors also do much more than merely agree with Socrates. They challenge him and put him on the spot, recreating the thrill of thought and debate in motion. In this work of dramatic scholarship and philosophy, we encounter a modern version of Plato's text that is alive, stimulating, and directly relevant to our own time. Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: Badiou's Sublime Translation of the Republic -- Translator's Preface -- Author's Preface to The English Edition -- Preface: How I Came to Write This Unclassifi able Book -- Characters -- Prologue: The Conversation in the Villa on the Harbor (327a-336b) -- 1. Reducing the Sophist to Silence (336b-357a) -- 2. The Young People's Pressing Questions (357a-368d) -- 3. The Origins of Society and the State (368d-376c) -- 4. The Disciplines of the Mind: Literature and Music (376c-403c) -- 5. The Disciplines of the Body: Nutrition, Medicine, and Physical Education (403c-412c) -- 6. Objective Justice (412c-434d) -- 7. Subjective Justice (434d-449a) -- 8. Women and Families (449a-471c) -- 9. What Is a Philosopher? (471c-484b) -- 10. Philosophy and Politics (484b-502c) -- 11. What Is an Idea? (502c-521c) -- 12. From Mathematics to the Dialectic (521c-541b) -- 13. Critique of the Four Pre-Communist Systems of Government: I: Timocracy and Oligarchy (541b-555b) -- 14. Critique of the Four Pre-Communist Systems of Government: II: Democracy and Tyranny (555b-573b) -- 15. Justice and Happiness (573b-592b) -- 16. Poetry and Thought (592b-608b) -- Epilogue: The Mobile Eternity of Subjects (608b-621d) -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index