Why Plato Wrote argues that Plato was not only the
world’s first systematic political philosopher, but also the
western world’s first think-tank activist and message man.
* Shows that Plato wrote to change Athenian society and thereby
transform Athenian politics
* Offers accessible discussions of Plato’s philosophy of
language and political theory
* Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title for
2011
Jadual kandungan
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Prologue: Why Think about Plato? 1
Part I: Why Plato Wrote 9
Chapter 1: Who Was Plato? 11
Chapter 2: The Importance of Symbols in Human Life 24
Chapter 3: The Philosopher as Model-Maker 38
Chapter 4: The Philosopher as Shadow-Maker 55
Chapter 5: What Plato Wrote 70
Chapter 6: How Plato Lived 79
Part II: What Plato Did 87
Chapter 7: The Case for Influence 89
Chapter 8: Culture War Emergent 108
Chapter 9: Culture War Concluded 122
Epilogue: And to My Colleagues 143
Appendix 1: The Relationship between Paradigms and Forms 148
Appendix 2: A Second Tri-partite Division of the Soul? 154
Appendix 3: Miso- Compounds in Greek Literature 158
Notes 161
References 206
Further Reading 215
Index 219
Mengenai Pengarang
Danielle S. Allen is UPS Foundation Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. She is the author of The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000) and Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown vs. the Board of Education (2004).