The Blackwell Guide to Plato's Republic (eBook)

Gerasimos Santas is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. His previous publications include Socrates (1979), Plato and Freud: Two Theories of Love (Blackwell, 1988), and Goodness and Justice: Plato, Aristotle and the Moderns (Blackwell, 2001).

Notes on Contributors vii

Editor's Introduction 1

1 The Literary and Philosophical Style of the Republic 7
Christopher Rowe

2 Allegory and Myth in Plato's Republic 25
Jonathan Lear

3 Socrates' Refutation of Thrasymachus 44
Rachel Barney

4 Plato's Challenge: the Case against Justice in Republic II 63
Christopher Shields

5 The Gods and Piety of Plato's Republic 84
Mark L. McPherran

6 Plato on Learning to Love Beauty 104
Gabriel Richardson Lear

7 Methods of Reasoning about Justice in Plato's Republic 125
Gerasimos Santas

8 The Analysis of the Soul in Plato's Republic 146
Hendrik Lorenz

9 The Divided Soul and the Desire for Good in Plato's Republic 166
Mariana Anagnostopoulos

10 Plato and the Ship of State 189
David Keyt

11 Knowledge, Recollection, and the Forms in Republic VII 214
Michael T. Ferejohn

12 The Forms in the Republic 234
Terry Penner

13 Plato's Defense of Justice in the Republic 263
Rachel G. K. Singpurwalla

General Bibliography 283

Index 285

"A judicious mix of new voices and more familiar ones, Santas'
Guide is a terrific resource for students and teachers of
Plato's masterwork. It should command a wide readership and be in
every library." C. D. C. Reeve, The University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill

This is a splendid collection of essays. The contributors are
not content with rehashing old material but demonstrate how it is
still possible to engage with the Republic in new and
philosophically stimulating ways. It provides a first-rate guide
both to the Republic itself and to some of the most exciting
developments in its interpretation. R F Stalley, University of
Glasgow

"This is a valuable collection. We should be grateful to
Gerasimos Santas, and to each of the contributors to this volume,
for the new light they have shed on Plato's masterpiece." Notre
Dame Philosophical Reviews