Plato and Aristophanes

Plato and Aristophanes PDF Author: Marina Marren
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810144204
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
In Plato and Aristophanes, Marina Marren contends that our search for communal justice must start with self-examination. The realization that there are things that we cannot know about ourselves unless we become the subject of a joke is integral to such self-scrutiny. Jokes provide a new perspective on our politics and ethics; they are essential to our civic self-awareness. Marren makes this case by delving into Plato’s Republic, a foundational work of political philosophy. While the Republic straightforwardly condemns the decadence and greed of a tyrant, Plato’s attack on political idealism is both solemn and comedic. In fact, Plato draws on the same comedic stock and tropes as do Aristophanes’s plays. Marren’s book strikes up an innovative conversation between three works by Aristophanes—Assembly Women, Knights, and Birds—and Plato’s philosophy, prompting important questions about individual convictions and one’s personal search for justice. These dialogic works offer critiques of tyranny that are by turns brilliant, scathing, and exuberant, making light of faults and ideals alike. Philosophical comedy exposes despotism in individuals as well as systems of government claiming to be just and good. This critique holds as much bite against contemporary injustices as it did at the time of Aristophanes and Plato. An ingenious new work by an emerging scholar, Plato and Aristophanes shows that comedy—in tandem with philosophy and politics—is essential to self-examination. And without such examination, there is no hope for a just life.

Plato and Aristophanes

Plato and Aristophanes PDF Author: Marina Marren
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810144204
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book

Book Description
In Plato and Aristophanes, Marina Marren contends that our search for communal justice must start with self-examination. The realization that there are things that we cannot know about ourselves unless we become the subject of a joke is integral to such self-scrutiny. Jokes provide a new perspective on our politics and ethics; they are essential to our civic self-awareness. Marren makes this case by delving into Plato’s Republic, a foundational work of political philosophy. While the Republic straightforwardly condemns the decadence and greed of a tyrant, Plato’s attack on political idealism is both solemn and comedic. In fact, Plato draws on the same comedic stock and tropes as do Aristophanes’s plays. Marren’s book strikes up an innovative conversation between three works by Aristophanes—Assembly Women, Knights, and Birds—and Plato’s philosophy, prompting important questions about individual convictions and one’s personal search for justice. These dialogic works offer critiques of tyranny that are by turns brilliant, scathing, and exuberant, making light of faults and ideals alike. Philosophical comedy exposes despotism in individuals as well as systems of government claiming to be just and good. This critique holds as much bite against contemporary injustices as it did at the time of Aristophanes and Plato. An ingenious new work by an emerging scholar, Plato and Aristophanes shows that comedy—in tandem with philosophy and politics—is essential to self-examination. And without such examination, there is no hope for a just life.

Four Texts on Socrates

Four Texts on Socrates PDF Author: Plato
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801485749
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Translations of four major works of ancient Greek literature which treat the life and thought of Socrates, focusing particularly on his trial and defense and on the charges against him.

Socrates and Aristophanes

Socrates and Aristophanes PDF Author: Leo Strauss
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022622547X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
In one of his last books, Socrates and Aristophanes, Leo Strauss's examines the confrontation between Socrates and Aristophanes in Aristophanes' comedies. Looking at eleven plays, Strauss shows that this confrontation is essentially one between poetry and philosophy, and that poetry emerges as an autonomous wisdom capable of rivaling philosophy. "Strauss gives us an impressive addition to his life's work—the recovery of the Great Tradition in political philosophy. The problem the book proposes centers formally upon Socrates. As is typical of Strauss, he raises profound issues with great courage. . . . [He addresses] a problem that has been inherent in Western life ever since [Socrates'] execution: the tension between reason and religion. . . . Thus, we come to Aristophanes, the great comic poet, and his attack on Socrates in the play The Clouds. . . [Strauss] translates it into the basic problem of the relation between poetry and philosophy, and resolves this by an analysis of the function of comedy in the life of the city." —Stanley Parry, National Review

Four Texts on Socrates

Four Texts on Socrates PDF Author: Plato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Four Texts on Socrates

Four Texts on Socrates PDF Author: Plato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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The Trials of Socrates

The Trials of Socrates PDF Author: C. D. C. Reeve
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 9780872205895
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
This unique and expertly annotated collection of the classic accounts of Socrates left by Plato, Aristophanes, and Xenophon features new translations of Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and the death scene from Phaedo by C. D. C. Reeve, Peter Meineck's translation of Clouds, and James Doyle's translation of Apology of Socrates.

Notes on Aristophanes and Plato

Notes on Aristophanes and Plato PDF Author: Thomas Gray
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description


Four Texts on Socrates

Four Texts on Socrates PDF Author: Thomas G. West
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book offers translations of four major works of ancient Greek literature which treat the life and thought of Socrates, focusing particularly on his trial and defense (the Platonic dialogues Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, and Crito) and on the charges against Socrates (Aristophanes' comedy the Clouds). This is the only collection of the three Platonic dialogues which also includes the Clouds, a work that is fundamental for understanding the thought of Socrates in relation to the Athenian political community and to Greek poetry. Thomas G. West's introduction provides an overview of the principal themes and arguments of the four works. There are extensive explanatory notes to the translations.

Myths of the Underworld Journey

Myths of the Underworld Journey PDF Author: Radcliffe G. Edmonds, III
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107407305
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Plato, Aristophanes, and the creators of the "Orphic" gold tablets employ the traditional tale of a journey to the realm of the dead to redefine, within the mythic narrative, the boundaries of their societies. Rather than being the relics of a faded ritual tradition or the products of Orphic influence, these myths can only reveal their meanings through this detailed analysis of the specific ways in which each author makes use of the tradition.

Notes on Aristophanes & Plato

Notes on Aristophanes & Plato PDF Author: Thomas Gray
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description