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Nehamas, Alexander : VIRTUES OF AUTHENTICITY

Princeton University Press, 1998

ISBN 9780691001784

A clean softcover, no markings throughout, NOT an ex-library book: The eminent philosopher and classical scholar Alexander Nehamas presents he re a collection of his most important essays on Plato and Socrates. The pap ers are unified in theme by the idea that Plato's central philosophical con cern in metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics was to distinguish the authenti c from the fake, the original from its imitations. In approach, the collect ion displays Nehamas's characteristic combination of analytical rigor and s ensitivity to the literary form and dramatic effect of Plato's work. Togeth er, the papers represent Nehamas's distinct and original contributions to s cholarship on Plato and Socrates and serve as a comprehensive introduction to the thought of these two philosophers. In the book's opening section, Nehamas discusses Plato's representation of Socrates as a model of authentic human goodness, showing that Plato's Socrates is a more skeptical, troubling, and individualistic thinker than is usually supposed. The papers in the second section form a sustained defense of a new and important understanding of Plato's theory of the forms and the evolution of that theory in Plato's later writings. The third section examines Plato's contention that popular entertainment--by which he meant Greek epic and tragic poetry--misleads its audience into a debased life, an argument Nehamas relates to modern anxieties about television and other forms of popular culture. The collection also includes a discussion of Plato's use of the dialogue form in his representation of Socrates and carefully examines the combination of literary and philo, Very Good++

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