On the Socratic Education: An Introduction to the Shorter Platonic Dialogues

by Christopher Bruell

Overview

Can the education which so many search for today on our college campuses be found in the works of a past author? On the Socratic Education: An Introduction to the Shorter Platonic Dialogues uncovers the education that Socrates sought on his own behalf and, in so doing, made available to others. Sixteen dialogues are discussed, each considered on its own, but also placed within the context of Plato's account of the Socratic quest. The aim of the book is to make Socrates' investigation and resolution of the questions that still concern us as human beings more accessible to serious contemporary readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461639732
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/08/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	477 KB

About the Author

Christopher Bruell is professor of political science at Boston College.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Hipparchus, or Lover of Gain
Chapter 3 Minos, or About Law
Part 4 Students and Teachers
Chapter 5 Alcibiades
Chapter 6 Second Alcibiades
Chapter 7 Laches
Chapter 8 Euthydemus
Chapter 9 Greater Hippias
Chapter 10 Lesser Hippias
Chapter 11 Theages
Part 12 The Life Itself
Chapter 13 Euthyphro
Chapter 14 Apology of Socrates
Chapter 15 Ion
Chapter 16 Meno
Chapter 17 Contents
Part 18 Conclusion
Chapter 19 Cleitophon
Chapter 20 Menexenus
Chapter 21 Crito
Chapter 22 Index of Textual References
Chapter 23 About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Modestly suggesting that his commentaries are an 'introduction' to the dialogues, and that they are offered as a contribution to contemporary debates on liberal education, Bruell reveals himself a subtle exegete and makes a highly important contribution to classical scholarship. Attentive to every nuance and twist of a dialogue, he displays a discernment and irony developed only after years of painstaking reading and rereading of the dialogues.. .. The value of Bruell's portrait of Socrates extends beyond classical Athens and sheds light on contemporary platitudes that range from cultural relativism, legal positivism, and psychological reductionism to how to respond to the seductive appeal of sham teachers and the prolixity of those academics who lack the self-conscious, moderating reluctance to teach and open themselves to learning something from their students.

Peter C. Emberleyn Political Science Review

Serious students of Socratic education should find this book an invaluable supplement to the Platonic dialogues. On the Socratic Education is studded with startling insights into the dialogues, often advancing interpretations strikingly at odds with dominant views or, more often, raising questions and considerations not usually raised. It should remain a beacon of light and a stimulus to further investigation within the field of Platonic scholarship for many decades.

Nathan Tarcov

This is a valuable book.

The Heythrop Journal

Brilliant. Bruell's book gives an education in the proper method of following Socrates's highly eristic, mercurial arguments.

Review of Metaphysics - Charles H. Fairbanks

This outstanding work provides the most penetrating analysis I have yet encountered of the precise goals and methods of that educational activity in which Socrates so fully and fruitfully engaged for the benefit of himself and others. The author proceeds through an interpretation, tightly and economically focused on this theme, of the shorter Platonic dialogues—many of which have never before received so serious and so illuminating an exegesis.. .. The scholarship is meticulous, the contribution—to the fields of Plato studies, educational theory, classical philosophy, and political philosophy—truly major.

Thomas Pangle

This is a book to be studied, not merely read.. .. Few works can claim to give Socratic philosophy the kind of living force that Bruell achieves.

Polis

Modestly suggesting that his commentaries are an 'introduction' to the dialogues, and that they are offered as a contribution to contemporary debates on liberal education, Bruell reveals himself a subtle exegete and makes a highly important contribution to classical scholarship. Attentive to every nuance and twist of a dialogue, he displays a discernment and irony developed only after years of painstaking reading and rereading of the dialogues.. .. The value of Bruell's portrait of Socrates extends beyond classical Athens and sheds light on contemporary platitudes that range from cultural relativism, legal positivism, and psychological reductionism to how to respond to the seductive appeal of sham teachers and the prolixity of those academics who lack the self-conscious, moderating reluctance to teach and open themselves to learning something from their students.

American Political Science Review - Peter C. Emberley

Brilliant. Bruell's book gives an education in the proper method of following Socrates's highly eristic, mercurial arguments.
— Charles H. Fairbanks

The Review Of Metaphysics

Modestly suggesting that his commentaries are an 'introduction' to the dialogues, and that they are offered as a contribution to contemporary debates on liberal education, Bruell reveals himself a subtle exegete and makes a highly important contribution to classical scholarship. Attentive to every nuance and twist of a dialogue, he displays a discernment and irony developed only after years of painstaking reading and rereading of the dialogues. . . . The value of Bruell's portrait of Socrates extends beyond classical Athens and sheds light on contemporary platitudes that range from cultural relativism, legal positivism, and psychological reductionism to how to respond to the seductive appeal of sham teachers and the prolixity of those academics who lack the self-conscious, moderating reluctance to teach and open themselves to learning something from their students.
— Peter C. Emberley, Carleton University

American Political Science Review