Xanthippic Dialogues: A Philosophical Fiction
Oct 2012 · Bloomsbury Publishing
Ebook
280
Pages
About this ebook
The real Plato is revealed to us, by the women whom he banished from his arguments.
In Plato's dialogues, an idealised Socrates expounds the ideas for which Plato will, until the end of history, be famous. The world of Forms; the ideal Republic with its totalitarian masterplan; the tribute to Eros, god of love (or at least of homosexual love); the promise of soul's salvation - all this has come down to us in the distinctive tone of Plato's teacher.
But how much of it did Socrates believe? Were Plato's contemporaries really taken in? Who was Plato anyway? And what lay behind his philosophy, from which the real world of men and women was so rigorously excluded?
Until the discovery of the Xanthippic Dialogues, we had no answers to those questions. Now the real Plato is revealed to us, by the women whom he banished from his arguments. In this brilliant and witty exposé, the mask of abstraction is lifted, to reveal the truth that lies beneath. And the truth is Xanthippe: wife of Socrates, teacher of Aristole, and Founding Mother of the Western world.
In Plato's dialogues, an idealised Socrates expounds the ideas for which Plato will, until the end of history, be famous. The world of Forms; the ideal Republic with its totalitarian masterplan; the tribute to Eros, god of love (or at least of homosexual love); the promise of soul's salvation - all this has come down to us in the distinctive tone of Plato's teacher.
But how much of it did Socrates believe? Were Plato's contemporaries really taken in? Who was Plato anyway? And what lay behind his philosophy, from which the real world of men and women was so rigorously excluded?
Until the discovery of the Xanthippic Dialogues, we had no answers to those questions. Now the real Plato is revealed to us, by the women whom he banished from his arguments. In this brilliant and witty exposé, the mask of abstraction is lifted, to reveal the truth that lies beneath. And the truth is Xanthippe: wife of Socrates, teacher of Aristole, and Founding Mother of the Western world.
About the author
Roger Scruton was born on 27 February 1944, and was raised in Marlow and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire with his two sisters. He was educated at Royal Grammar School High Wycombe, from which he was expelled shortly after winning a scholarship to Cambridge. He studied moral sciences at Jesus College from 1962, receiving a BA in 1965, incepted as MA in 1967. He was awarded a PhD in 1972 for a thesis on aesthetics, also from Cambridge.
After graduating, Scruton spent two years abroad before pursuing an academic career in philosophy, first in Cambridge and then in London. In 1990, he took a year's leave of absence to work for an educational charity in Czechoslovakia.
He then taught part-time at Boston University Massachusetts until the end of 1994, while building up a public affairs consultancy in Eastern Europe. He currently holds three positions: visiting professor at Oxford University; visiting professor in the School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC.
After graduating, Scruton spent two years abroad before pursuing an academic career in philosophy, first in Cambridge and then in London. In 1990, he took a year's leave of absence to work for an educational charity in Czechoslovakia.
He then taught part-time at Boston University Massachusetts until the end of 1994, while building up a public affairs consultancy in Eastern Europe. He currently holds three positions: visiting professor at Oxford University; visiting professor in the School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
