Socrates' Discursive Democracy
Title | Socrates' Discursive Democracy PDF eBook |
Author | Gerald M. Mara |
Publisher | State University of New York Press |
Pages | 338 |
Release | 1997-02-27 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1438411871 |
Focusing on the speeches and actions of the Platonic Socrates, this book argues that Plato's political philosophy is a crucial source for reflection on the hazards and possibilities of democratic politics.
Socrates' Discursive Democracy
Title | Socrates' Discursive Democracy PDF eBook |
Author | Gerald M. Mara |
Publisher | SUNY Press |
Pages | 338 |
Release | 1997-01-01 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780791432990 |
Focusing on the speeches and actions of the Platonic Socrates, this book argues that Plato's political philosophy is a crucial source for reflection on the hazards and possibilities of democratic politics.
The Civic Conversations of Thucydides and Plato
Title | The Civic Conversations of Thucydides and Plato PDF eBook |
Author | Gerald M. Mara |
Publisher | State University of New York Press |
Pages | 340 |
Release | 2008-07-15 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0791477991 |
This book argues that classical political philosophy, represented in the works of Thucydides and Plato, is an important resource for both contemporary democratic political theory and democratic citizens. By placing the Platonic dialogues and Thucydides' History in conversation with four significant forms of modern democratic theory—the rational choice perspective, deliberative democratic theory, the interpretation of democratic culture, and postmodernism—Gerald M. Mara contends that these classical authors are not enemies of democracy. Rather than arguing for the creation of a more encompassing theoretical framework guided by classical concerns, Mara offers readings that emphasize the need to focus critically on the purposes of politics, and therefore of democracy, as controversial yet unavoidable questions for political theory.
What Would Socrates Do?
Title | What Would Socrates Do? PDF eBook |
Author | Joel Alden Schlosser |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 213 |
Release | 2014-07-14 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1316021238 |
Socrates continues to be an extremely influential force to this day; his work is featured prominently in the work of contemporary thinkers ranging from Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Michel Foucault and Jacques Rancière. Intervening in this discussion, What Would Socrates Do? reconstructs Socrates' philosophy in ancient Athens to show its promise of empowering citizens and non-citizens alike. By drawing them into collective practices of dialogue and reflection, philosophy can help people to become thinking, acting beings more capable of fully realizing the promises of political life. At the same time, however, Joel Alden Schlosser shows how these practices' commitment to interrogation keeps philosophy at a distance from the democratic status quo, creating a dissonance with conventional forms of politics that opens space for new forms of participation and critical contestation of extant ones.
The Rhetoric of Plato's Republic
Title | The Rhetoric of Plato's Republic PDF eBook |
Author | James L. Kastely |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Pages | 279 |
Release | 2015-08-25 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 022627862X |
J. Kastely makes the case for Plato’s Republic as a self-consciously rhetorical work exploring a fundamental problem for philosophy. He argues that the Republic is a mimetic poem responding to a discursive crisis within democracy, namely, the absence of a genuinely persuasive defense of justice. Understanding the Republic as a work that raises persuasion as a key problem for philosophy requires us to rethink Plato’s understanding of the relationship between philosophy and rhetoric. This is a major and provocative reconsideration of the relationship of philosophy and rhetoric and raises issues central to a wide range of scholarly fields, from political theory to psychology to aesthetics.
A Socrates for All Seasons - Alexander Meiklejohn and Deliberative Democracy
Title | A Socrates for All Seasons - Alexander Meiklejohn and Deliberative Democracy PDF eBook |
Author | Eugene H. Perry |
Publisher | iUniverse |
Pages | 402 |
Release | 2011-06-22 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 1462019897 |
This is the story of a reform minded man who translated his interest in liberal education and academic freedom into a unique interpretation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although he died in 1964 his interpretation is still being applied to free speech cases that come before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the early days of the 20th century he was Dean at Brown University, President of Amherst College and founder of the Experimental College at the University of Wisconsin. In the xenophobic aftermath of World War II he became a national leader in defense of political speech. This led him into a dialogue with justices of the Supreme Court, despite the fact he had no formal training in the law. His theory of the First Amendment holds that its provision for free speech exists as much for the publics need to hear and know as it does for the individuals right to speak.
The Platonic Political Art
Title | The Platonic Political Art PDF eBook |
Author | John R. Wallach |
Publisher | Penn State Press |
Pages | 482 |
Release | 2015-12-16 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0271031026 |
In this first comprehensive treatment of Plato’s political thought in a long time, John Wallach offers a "critical historicist" interpretation of Plato. Wallach shows how Plato’s theory, while a radical critique of the conventional ethical and political practice of his own era, can be seen as having the potential for contributing to democratic discourse about ethics and politics today. The author argues that Plato articulates and "solves" his Socratic Problem in his various dialogues in different but potentially complementary ways. The book effectively extracts Plato from the straightjacket of Platonism and from the interpretive perspectives of the past fifty years—principally those of Karl Popper, Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, M. I. Finley, Jacques Derrida, and Gregory Vlastos. The author’s distinctive approach for understanding Plato—and, he argues, for the history of political theory in general—can inform contemporary theorizing about democracy, opening pathways for criticizing democracy on behalf of virtue, justice, and democracy itself.