Plato's Utopia Recast: His Later Ethics and Politics

by Christopher Bobonich

Overview

Plato's Utopia Recast is an illuminating reappraisal of Plato's later works, which reveals radical changes in his ethical and political theory. Christopher Bobonich examines later dialogues, with a special emphasis upon the Laws, and argues that in these late works, Plato both rethinks and revises the basic ethical and political positions that he held in his better-known earlier works, such as the Republic. This book will change our understanding of Plato. His controversial moral and political theory, so influential in Western thought, will henceforth be seen in a new light.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199274109
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/30/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	643
Product dimensions:	9.22(w) x 6.16(h) x 1.38(d)

About the Author

Christopher Bobonich is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University.

Table of Contents

1. Philosophers and non-philosophers in the Phaedo and Republic
2. Virtue , good, and happiness in the Laws
3. Parts of the soul and the psychology of virtue
4. Parts of the soul and non-rational motivations
5. The Citizens of Magnesia
References, Index

Editorial Reviews

"Bobonich's discussion is rich and dense, and it covers an extremely wide range of topics. Since his interpretation is supported by careful exegesis of many texts and by keen philosophical argument, the result is a book of exceptional importance for our understanding of Plato's work...by far the best account we have of the ethics and political philosophy of the Laws. It is also a major contribution to our understanding of the philosophy of mind and metaphysics of value in Plato's later dialogues."—Charles Kahn, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy

"This is by any standards a major work, which does for the later dialogues what Terence Irwin's Plato's Ethics did for the earlier and middle. The comparison is in my view a fair measure not only of its scope, but also of its quality."—C. C. W. Taylor, British Journal for the History of Philosophy

"A memorable event in Plato scholarship."—Times Literary Supplement

"Bobonich's study of the Laws (along with related aspects of other post-Republic dialogues, such as Phaedrus and Statesman) is truly brilliant and extraordinarily innovative. There is no doubt but that it will be seen immediately on publication to have revolutionized our understanding of this sprawling, difficult work.... The result is a challenging new view of Platonic politics, based upon the most complete, most insightful account of Plato's moral psychology - and its development - that anyone has yet provided." —John Cooper, Princeton University

"Plato's Utopia Recast is an extraordinarily ambitious study of Plato's growth as an ethical and political philosopher from the Phaedo to the Laws. Its principal theme is that Plato came to regard the moral psychology and theory of cognition in the Republic as a failure in its own terms; that he therefore radically revised his views in the later dialogues; and that these changes reach their culmination in the Laws. This is a work of great scope and boldness, and is bound to be controversial. Whether readers agree with Bobonich or not, they will inevitably learn a great deal by having to come to terms with his admirably detailed and systematic account of Plato's development."—Richard Kraut, Northwestern University

"One of those rare things, a really exciting work of philosophical scholarship, which has me wanting to turn every page...One of the best things that I have read on Plato for a very long time...A thoroughly original book, not just in terms of its thesis, but in terms of its strikingly clear approach - which allows fresh meaning to shine out."—Christopher Rowe, University of Durham

From the Publisher