Faced with the difficult task of discerning Plato's true ideas from the contradictory voices he used to express them, scholars have never fully made sense of the many incompatibilities within and between the dialogues. In the magisterial "Plato's Philosophers", Catherine H. Zuckert explains for the first time how these prose dramas cohere to reveal a comprehensive Platonic understanding of philosophy. To expose this coherence, Zuckert examines the dialogues not in their supposed order of composition but according to the dramatic order in which Plato indicates they took place. This unconventional arrangement lays bare a narrative of the rise, development, and limitations of Socratic philosophy. In the drama's earliest dialogues, for example, non-Socratic philosophers introduce the political and philosophical problems to which Socrates tries to respond. A second dramatic group shows how Socrates develops his distinctive philosophical style. And, finally, the later dialogues feature interlocutors who reveal his philosophy's limitations. Despite these limitations, Zuckert concludes, Plato made Socrates the dialogues' central figure because Socrates raises the fundamental human question: What is the best way to live?

About the Author
Catherine H. Zuckert is the Nancy R. Dreux Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of Postmodern Platos and coauthor of The Truth about Leo Strauss, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews
"Brimming with original insights, this massive book offers a comprehensive vision of the entire Platonic corpus.... Both analytic philosophers and literary interpreters, who eschew argument in favor of artistic structure and presentation of character, will profit from engagement with this brilliant study.... This book will allow scholars of all persuasions to make discoveries at every turn as the author guides them through territory they thought they knew well." (Choice)"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226007748
Author Catherine H. Zuckert
Format Paperback
Page Count 896
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 1191g
Dimensions(mm) 23mm * 16mm * 5mm