Statesman |
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Author:
| Plato, |
ISBN: | 979-8-6563-1355-1 |
Publication Date: | Jun 2020 |
Publisher: | Independently Published
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | USD $8.99 |
Book Description:
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In the Phaedrus, the Republic, the Philebus, the Parmenides, and the Sophist, we mayobserve the tendency of Plato to combine two or more subjects or different aspects of thesame subject in a single dialogue. In the Sophist and Statesman especially we note that thediscussion is partly regarded as an illustration of method, and that analogies are broughtfrom afar which throw light on the main subject. And in his later writings generally wefurther remark a decline of style, and of...
More DescriptionIn the Phaedrus, the Republic, the Philebus, the Parmenides, and the Sophist, we mayobserve the tendency of Plato to combine two or more subjects or different aspects of thesame subject in a single dialogue. In the Sophist and Statesman especially we note that thediscussion is partly regarded as an illustration of method, and that analogies are broughtfrom afar which throw light on the main subject. And in his later writings generally wefurther remark a decline of style, and of dramatic power; the characters excite little or nointerest, and the digressions are apt to overlay the main thesis; there is not the 'callidajunctura' of an artistic whole. Both the serious discussions and the jests are sometimes outof place. The invincible Socrates is withdrawn from view; and new foes begin to appearunder old names. Plato is now chiefly concerned, not with the original Sophist, but with thesophistry of the schools of philosophy, which are making reasoning impossible; and isdriven by them out of the regions of transcendental speculation back into the path ofcommon sense. A logical or psychological phase takes the place of the doctrine of Ideas inhis mind. He is constantly dwelling on the importance of regular classification, and of notputting words in the place of things. He has banished the poets, and is beginning to use atechnical language. He is bitter and satirical, and seems to be sadly conscious of therealities of human life. Yet the ideal glory of the Platonic philosophy is not extinguished. Heis still looking for a city in which kings are either philosophers or gods (compare Laws).