Graduate Seminar on Plato’s Republic Syllabus

Graduate Seminar

CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATIONS OF PLATO’S REPUBLIC Dr. V. Adluri Office: Hunter West, Room 1242 Telephone: 973 9 73 216 7874 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] .edu Office hours: Wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:00 P.M and by appointment 12 th floor,

DESCRIPTION: Plato’s Republic is considered the foundational text of Western philosophy as well as political theory and aesthetics. It is also the single most important work of Plato’s literary oeuvre , containing sustained treatments of psychology, epistemology, and ontology. This course will focus on highlighting major themes in the Republic , especially as these have been understood and interpreted in contemporary Plato scholarship. The course is divided into two parts. After a general overview of the dialogue, its literary unity, and its historical influences, we shall take up the following topics for discussion: epistemology, ontology, ethics, politics, aesthetics, gender, psychology, and soteriology. The aim of the course is to gain an understanding of the contemporary reception of the Republic as as well as its reception in the broader history of philosophy. COURSE PREREQUISITES: Students must have taken an undergraduate course on Plato. They should nonetheless revise the dialogue before the seminar. For those unfamiliar with the scope of the Republic , I recommend a look at F.M. Cornford’s The Republic of Plato (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951). Cornford’s division of the dialogue is still considered authoritative. For those unfamiliar with the basic scholarly approaches to the dialogue, the following works are recommended: Allan Bloom’s interpretive essay in The Republic of Plato, 2nd ed. (New York: Basic Books, 1991) as well as the chapter “The Influence and Interpretation of Plato in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy,” in Continuum Companion to Plato, ed. Gerald A. Press (London: Continuum, 2012), 282-308. COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Each student is required to present in class on a topic. The presentation must be accompanied by: (1) a handout specifying the thesis, (2) a 1-page summary of the relevant section(s) of the dialogue, and (3) a bibliography. You are expected to take up one thesis, develop a precise argument, and have a comprehensive bibliography pertaining to your topic (the list of works under “recent interpretations” will provide a starting point for further research.) Students are also required to complete a final paper (20-25 pages) incorporating my comments on their presentation. Citations must adhere to the Chicago style. Primary Sources: Plato. Republic . Translated with Introduction by C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004. Plato. The Republic . Edited by G.R.F. Ferrari, translated by Tom Griffith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

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In addition, you must have the Greek text. Either the Burnet edition ( Platonis Opera , vol. IV [Oxford: Clarendon, 1902]) or the Adams edition ( The Republic of Plato, 2 vols. [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010-11]) are suitable, but the Adams edition is preferable. Commentaries: In addition to the works listed above under “course prerequisites,” I recommend some or all of the following commentaries: Brann, Eva. The Music of the Republic: Essays on Socrates’ Conversations and Plato’s Writings . Philadelphia: Paul Dry, 2011. Ferrari, G.R.F. Ed. The Cambridge Companion to Plato’s Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Rosen, Stanley. Plato’s Republic: A Study . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. Voegelin, Eric. Plato. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000. White, Nicholas P. A Companion to Plato’s Republic . Indianapolis: Hackett, 1979. Secondary Literature: The following works are important for appreciating the Republic’s literary and historical context; they will be extensively referred to during the i ntroductory lecture sessions: Albinus, Lars. “The Katabasis of Er. Plato’s Use of Myths, exemplified by the Myth of Er.” In Essays on Plato’s Republic, edited by E. N. Ostenfeld, 91-105. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1998. Adluri, Vishwa. “Initiation into the Mysteries: Experience of the Irrational in Plato.” Mouseion III.6 (2006): 407-423. Adluri, Vishwa. “Tragedies of Self and Polis : Sophoclean Elements in the Republic .” Paper presented at the Tenth International Conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, Cagliari, June 2012. Adluri, Vishwa and John Lenz. “From Politics to Salvation through Philosophy.” In Philosophy and Salvation in Greek Religion , edited by Vishwa Adluri, 217-241. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2013. Annas, Julia. An Introduction to Plato’s Republic . New York: Oxford, 1981. Brisson, Luc. Plato the Myth Maker . Translated by Gerard Naddaf. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Howland, Jacob. The Republic: The Odyssey of Philosophy . Philadelphia: Paul Dry, 2004. Tarrant, Harold. “The Origins and Shape of Plato’s Six-Book Republic .” Antichthon 46 (2012): 52-78. Recent Interpretations: In addition, these are some of the more influential recent interpretations of the Republic (note that not all these works are exclusively on the Republic ; however, each is significant enough for contemporary views of the dialogue to consider it here). One or more of these works will be required reading depending upon your chosen topic. Annas, Julia. An Introduction to Plato’s Republic . New York: Oxford, 1981. Benardete, Seth. Socrates’ Second Sailing: On Plato’s Republic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. Bussanich, John. “Rebirth Eschatology in Plato and Plotinus.” In Philosophy and Salvation in Greek Religion , edited by Vishwa Adluri, 243-288. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2013. Craig, Leon Harold. The War Lover: A Study of Plato’s Republic. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996. 2 of 4

Ferrari, G.R.F. City and Soul in Plato’s Republic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. Halliwell, Stephen. The Aesthetics of Mim !s is: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. Halliwell, Stephen. “The Life-and-Death Journey of the Soul.” In The Cambridge Companion to Plato’s Republic , edited by G. R. F. Ferrari, 445-473. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Halliwell, Stephen. Plato: Republic Book 10. Warminster: Aries and Phillips, 1988. Irwin, Terence. Plato’s Ethics . New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Janaway, Christopher. “Plato and the Arts.” In A Companion to Plato, edited by Hugh H. Benson, 388-400. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. Menn, Stephen. Plato on God as Nous . Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1995. Monoson, Sara S. Plato’s Democratic Entanglements: Athenian Politics and the Practice of Philosophy . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. Popper, Karl. The Open Society and its Enemies , vol. 1: The Spell of Plato, 5th rev. ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971. Roochnik, David. Beautiful City: The Dialectical Character of Plato’s Republic. Cornell: Cornell University Press, 2003. Silverman, Alan. The Dialectic of Essence. A Study of Plato’s Metaphysics . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. Szlezák, Thomas. “Platonic Dialectic: The Path and the Goal.” In Platonisms: Ancient, Modern, and Postmodern , edited by Kevin Corrigan and John D. Turner, 17-40. Leiden: Brill, 2007. Szlezák, Thomas. Reading Plato. Translated by Graham Zanker. London and New York: Routledge, 1999. Strauss, Leo. The City and Man . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Thesleff, Holger. Studies in Plato’s Two-Level Model . Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1999. Vlastos, Gregory. Platonic Studies . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. Vlastos, Gregory. Ed. The Philosophy of Socrates: A Collection of Critical Essays . Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1971. Wender, Dorothea. “Plato, Misogynist, Pedophile, and Feminist.” In Women in the Ancient World: The Arethusa Papers , edited by John Peradotto and J.P. Sullivan, 213-228. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1984. For those planning to present on the 20th century Continental reception of Plato, any one of Heidegger’s several books and articles on Plato (especially The Essence of Truth: On Plato’s Cave Allegory and Theaetetus, trans. Ted Sadler [London: Continuum, 2002]) or Gadamer’s collected essays on Plato (either Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato, trans. P. Christopher Smith [New Haven: Yale, 1980] or The Idea of the Good in Platonic-Aristotelian Philosophy , trans. P. Christopher Smith [New Haven: Yale, 1986]) are suitable. CLASS SCHEDULE AND REQUIRED READING: Seminar topics will be assigned in the first session. You are required to meet with me at least 3 weeks prior to your presentation slot to go over your thesis and bibliography; presentations are due 1 week before your presentation in my mailbox and you must incorporate my comments before presenting. Session

Topic

Required reading

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No.

1.

Introductory lecture: structure of the Republic

None

2.

Plato’s use of myth and the dialogue form

Brisson

3.

Sources of Plato’s Republic I: Homer’s Odyssey

Howland

4.

Sources of Plato’s Republic II: Herodotus, Sophocles

5.

Sources of Plato’s Republic III: mystery cults

6.

Unity of the Republic

Adluri & Lenz; “Tragedies of Self and Polis ” Albinus; “Initiation into the Mysteries” Annas; Tarrant

7.

Epistemology: Does Plato have a two-world theory?

Seminar presentation

8.


9.

Epistemology: Plato’s Theory of Forms and the Republic as a “middle dialogue” Ontology: Metaphysical and analytic approaches

10.

Ontology: Does Plato have an “unwritten doctrine”?


11.

Ethics: Annas’ Rawlsian interpretation of Platonic ethics


12.

Ethics: Altruism or selfish eudemonism?


13.

Politics: Critique of totalitarianism


14.

Politics: Straussian and democratic readings


15.

Politics: Social stratification and the philosopher-king


16.

Aesthetics: Is Plato against art?


17.


18.

Aesthetics: Plato’s analysis of mimesis and his critique of reality Gender: Annas and feminist critiques of the Republic

19.

Psychology: The city-soul analogy


20.

Psychology: Eros and the tyrant


21.

Soteriology: The philosopher-king versus Er


22.

Soteriology: Plato’s eschatological myths


23.


24.

Nietzsche’s and Heidegger’s criticisms of Plato as a metaphysician Gadamer on the Good in Plato

25.

Concluding lecture

None




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Graduate Seminar on Plato’s Republic Syllabus

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