Milton's Socratic Rationalism: The Conversations of Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost

by David Oliver Davies

Overview

Milton's Socratic Rationalism focuses on the influence of Milton's years of private study of classical authors, chiefly Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle, on Paradise Lost. It examines the conversations of Adam and Eve as a mode of discourse closely aligned to practices of Socrates in the dialogues of Plato and eponymous discourses of Xenophon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498532648
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Series:	Politics, Literature, & Film
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 8.83(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

David Oliver Davies is associate professor of English and classics at the University of Dallas and director of the Ph.D. program in literature at the Institute of Philosophic Studies.

Table of Contents

Chapter ONE: Preliminaries Chapter TWO: Prologue Chapter THREE: Eve's First Words Chapter FOUR: An Interlude Chapter FIVE: Becoming Dear Chapter SIX: "No more of talk" (9.1)

Editorial Reviews

The most compelling features of Milton’s Socratic Rationalism are its thoughtful reconstruction of several intimate but nonetheless key moments in Paradise Lost, as well as its charting of Milton’s reappropriation of ancient narrative, structure, and rhetorical devices... .. Milton’s Socratic Rationalism is a thoughtful book which deserves the careful attention of scholars of Milton, ancient Greek political thought, literary criticism, and the history of political thought.

The Review of Politics

Responding to a critic who said Milton had only blindness in common with Homer, G.E. Lessing said Paradise Lost was the finest epic since Homer. For, he argued, the range of Milton’s inner vision was more valuable than his physical sight since it gained him mental freedom. In Milton’s Socratic Rationalism, David Davies reveals how subtly Milton used his freedom.

Paul Dowling

In a time where many literary critics think that the “author is dead,” or, if he is living at all, a mere function of his social context, David Oliver Davies’ new book, Milton’s Socratic Rationalism, is a breath of fresh air. Davies boldly proclaims that we have something to learn from John Milton, for, he argues, Milton is one of those rare and outstanding human beings whose quest for truth led him to an inner freedom that allowed him to see the human situation as it is. For anyone who hopes to understand Milton’s thought as a whole, as well as Paradise Lost in particular, this book is indispensable.

VoegelinView

What, exactly, did Adam and Eve do when they ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what were the consequences? John Milton put this question front and center in Paradise Lost; and, in this provocative monograph, David Davies makes a compelling case that the English poet’s take on these questions owes as much to Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle as it does to the Book of Genesis.

Paul A. Rahe