Philosopher's New Clothes

Nickolas Pappas is Professor of Philosophy at the City College and the Graduate Center, The City University of New York, USA

"Although it may at first appears to be impossible to discuss both Plato’s thought and the philosophy of fashion in a coherent and philosophically promising way, Pappas’ book shows that it is a feasible and challenging task ... Pappas reveals a polished expertise on fashion in philosophy and the history of anti-fashion, as well as on some peculiar fashion and anti-fashion articles of clothing, like men’s suits, denim jeans, and black clothes. Reading these pages, with their many references to contemporary media, historic style icons (in particular, Beau Brummell) and philosophers who have theorized about fashion and its social and cultural effects, is pleasant and very informative ... Like Socrates, Nickolas Pappas’ book is somehow atopos, yet able to stimulate reflections and debates. More than anything else, The Philosopher’s New Clothes is a very original book, one of a kind in Platonic studies."- Filippo Forcignanò, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy, Bryn Mawr Classical Review (2018)"In Nickolas Pappas’ book, The Philosopher’s New Clothes: The Theaetetus, the Academy, and Philosophy’s Turn Against Fashion, one finds a wonderfully unexpected and oddly appropriate connection between the emergence of the Academy as a place in which the philosopher appears wearing that title, ‘philosopher’, and philosophy’s turn against fashion. While historians date the beginning of fashion to around 1300, and a second movement to 1850, Pappas argues that something recognizable as fashion and its antithesis already existed in Greek and Roman antiquity ... Pappas’ book ends on the shrewd and invaluable note that, even while it paves the way for a brood of philosopher-fashionistas, the Academy arises both then and now as the place where such fashions will nonetheless be able to be critiqued—a risky business, to be sure, but perhaps less risky naked in the gym than before a jury of suits. The tension persists, but so too the belief in philosophy’s beginning."- Gwenda-lin Grewal, The New School for Social Research, USA, ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY 41 (1): 232-236 (2021).

• Introduction What philosophers doPhilosophy for everyoneThe philosopher as eccentricPlato on the normal philosopherSocratic legaciesHow the philosopher appearsPart I. Socrates in the TheaetetusChapter 1. Entering the TheaetetusPlato’s AcademyThe Academy in Plato’s TheaetetusThe frame of the TheaetetusEnter Theaetetus Socrates as midwifeNo place for philosophy Chapter 2. Being a philosopher teaching philosophyThe cost of entering the AcademyUnwritten teachingsThe shoemakerThe CyrenaicsPigs and dogheadsSchool as institutionConclusionChapter 3. Philosophy’s first citizenWrestling and civilizationWhere the wrestling happensTwo myths of philosophy’s beginning (archê)Wonder and the rainbowIris the terasSocrates the philosopherA new myth of philosophy’s archê Philosopher as headmasterThe philosophical gentlemanBeyond the Theaetetus Part II. Philosophy Regarding FashionChapter 4. Fashion in philosophyFashion thinkingThe emperor’s new clothesPhilosophy of fashion todayImitation according to the traditionBeau Brummell, beyond imitatingThe foreignerChapter 5. Anti-fashionAlternative to fashionThe tradition of anti-fashionAnti-fashion todayThe suitDenim jeansBody artBlackBlack and the bodyChapter 6. Fashion in antiquityThe threat of anachronism. Ancient fashion?Diversity and contingency in dressChange in dressJustification for change in dressPlato’s Republic“Better”Part III. The Philosopher’s New ClothesChapter 7. There is no outfit like Greek nudityNudity in modern EuropeNudity for non-GreeksRecent treatments of Greek nudityPausaniasInspection, sexual and otherwiseChaste nudityRitual nudityRitual nudity and athleticsCivic nudityTheatetusChapter 8. You can tell a philosopher The Cynic display of withdrawalThe limits of philosophical costumePlatonic philosophical nudityPlatonic anti-fashionThoreauKierkegaard