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Montrer l'âme: Lecture du Phèdre de Platon By Anca Vasiliu 2021. Paris: Sorbonne Université Presses. 486 pp. 18.00 EUR. ISBN: 979-10-231-0669-5 (softcover). [English description] Like the Phaedrus, this study is presented as an open book. By scrutinizing the details down to the very transience of the impressions produced, and at the same time descending into the deepest waters of Plato's sources, we get as close as possible to the heart of the dialogue, while preserving its secret intimacy and facing at our own risk the fascination it exerts. This book pursues an idea, but is careful not to make it the key to the Phaedrus. The dialogue places Socrates in the role of the best that a singular soul can give: to show himself through his speech by being one with it to prevent the animate from going astray and to avoid the danger of forgetting. Socrates thus shows the way [...]

Plato’s Conception of Justice and the Question of Human Dignity By Marek Piechowiak 2021. Second edition. Berlin: Peter Lang Academic Publishers. 328 pp. 57.00 EUR/47.00 GBP/68.95 USD. ISBN: 978-3-631-84524-0 (hardcover), 978-3-631-84841-8 (e-book: EPUB format), 978-3-631-84544-8 (e-book: PDF format) This book is the first comprehensive study of Plato’s conception of justice. The universality of human rights and human dignity—recognized as the source of the former—are among the crucial philosophical problems in modern-day legal orders and in contemporary culture in general. If dignity is genuinely universal, then human beings also possessed it in ancient times. Plato not only perceived human dignity, but a recognition of dignity is also visible in his conception of justice, which forms the core of his philosophy. Plato’s Republic is consistently interpreted in the book as a treatise on justice, relating to the individual and not the state. The famous myth of the cave is a story about education [...]

THE ORIGINS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF TIME: PLATO AND PREDECESSORS ИСТОКИ ФИЛОСОФИИ ВРЕМЕНИ: ПЛАТОН И ПРЕДШЕСТВЕННИКИ By Aleksei Pleshkov 2021. 328 pp. ISBN: 978-5-7598-2312-4 (hardcover), 978-5-7598-2221-9 (e-book) The book proposes the reconstruction of Plato’s philosophy of time in its connection with early Greek thought. Analyzing texts by ancient Greek poets, historians, rhetoricians, tragedians, and early Greek philosophers, the author traces the evolution of images and notions of time that were peculiar to the ancient Greek culture. A careful study of their genesis provides the basis for a reconstruction of Plato’s philosophy of time. The author argues that the conventional ‘time – eternity’ interpretive scheme adopted in the European philosophical tradition is inadequate for Plato’s theory and transforms it into a tripartite ‘eternity–time–instantaneousness’ scheme. Eternity characterizes the existence of the forms, while time pertains to the world of becoming. Instantaneousness is the third temporal status, proper to the receptacle, the lowest [...]

Eros in Neoplatonism and its Reception in Christian Philosophy: Exploring Love in Plotinus, Proclus and Dionysius the Areopagite By Dimitrios A. Vasilakis 2020. 232 pp. 76.50 GBP Hardcover/61.20 GBP E-Book. ISBN: 9781350163867. Showing the ontological importance of eros within the philosophical systems inspired by Plato, Dimitrios A. Vasilakis examines the notion of eros in key texts of the Neoplatonic philosophers, Plotinus, Proclus, and the Church Father, Dionysius the Areopagite. Outlining the divergences and convergences between the three brings forward the core idea of love as deficiency in Plotinus and charts how this is transformed into plenitude in Proclus and Dionysius. Does Proclus diverge from Plotinus in his hierarchical scheme of eros? Is the Dionysian hierarchy to be identified with Proclus' classification of love? By analysing The Enneads, III.5, the Commentary on the First Alcibiades and the Divine Names side by side, Vasilakis uses a wealth of modern scholarship, including contemporary [...]

Framing the Dialouges: How to Read Openings and Closings in Plato Volume edited by Eleni Kaklamanou, Maria Pavlou, and Antonis Tsakmakis. 2021. xii, 318 pp. 120.00 EUR Hardcover/E-Book PDF. ISBN: 978-90-04-44398-3 [hardcover]/978-90-04-44399-0 [e-book]. (Brill's Plato Studies Series 6) Framing the Dialogues: How to Read Openings and Closures in Plato is a collection of 14 chapters with an Introduction that focuses on the intricate and multifarious ways in which Plato frames his dialogues. Its main aim is to explore both the association between inner and outer framework and how this relationship contributes to, and sheds light upon, the framed dialogues and their philosophical content. All contributors to the volume advocate the significance of closures and especially openings in Plato, arguing that platonic frames should not be treated merely as ‘trimmings’ or decorative literary devices but as an integral part of the central philosophical discourse. The volume will prove to be an invaluable [...]

Plato's Timaeus: Proceedings of the Tenth Symposium Platonicum Pragense Volume edited by Chad Jorgenson, Filip Karfík, and Štěpán Špinka 2021. x, 293 pp. 94.00 EUR Hardcover; Open Access/free PDF. ISBN: 978-90-04-43606-0 [hardcover]/978-90-04-43708-1 [e-book]. (Brill's Plato Studies Series 5) Plato's 'Timaeus' brings together a number of studies from both leading Plato specialists and up-and-coming researchers from across Europe. The contributions cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from the literary form of the work to the ontology of sense perception and the status of medicine in Timaeus' account. Although informed by a commitment to methodological diversity, the collection as a whole forms an organic unity, opening fresh perspectives on widely read passages, while shedding new light on less frequently discussed topics. The volume thus provides a valuable resource for students and researchers at all levels, whether their interest bears on the Timaeus as a whole or on a particular passage.