Brill's Plato Studies Series – serie

Emotions (pathè) such as anger, fear, shame, and envy, but also pity, wonder, love and friendship have long been underestimated in Plato’s philosophy. The aim of Emotions in Plato is to provide a consistent account of the role of emotions in Plato’s psychology, epistemology, ethics and political theory. The volume focuses on three main issues: taxonomy of emotions, their epistemic status, and their relevance for the ethical and political theory and practice. This volume, which is the first edited volume entirely dedicated to emotions in Plato’s philosophy, shows how Plato, in many aspects, was positively interested in these affective states in order to support the rule of reason."Emotions in Plato is a rich and illuminating book, which will probably make not a few readers change their view of Plato’s attitude to emotions."-Margalit Finkelberg, Tel Aviv University, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2021.10.16

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.

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 companion to all those interested in Plato as well as in classical literature in general.

Weshalb ist der Chortanz (χορεία) in Platons Nomoi so prominent? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage bietet dieses Buch eine eingehende Analyse der Moralpsychologie des Dialogs und argumentiert, dass der Tanz nicht nur ein erzieherisches Instrument, sondern – als körperlicher Ausdruck geordneter Lust – auch ein Symbolbild für das Hauptziel der moralischen Erziehung ist: die Mäßigung (σωφροσύνη). So wird der Chortanz zu einem wirkmächtigen Konstrukt zur Veranschaulichung der philosophischen Hauptanliegen Platons. Zu den Schwerpunkten des Buches gehören darüber hinaus eine innovative Erklärung des komplexen Aufbaus des Dialogs, neue Deutungen des Marionettengleichnisses und der Ansprache an die Tragiker sowie die erste Untersuchung der moralischen Funktion der Scham in Kapitellänge.Ausgezeichnet mit dem Conrado Eggers Lan Prize der International Plato Society 2022.Why is choral dance (χορεία) so prominent in Plato’s Laws? In answer to this question, this book offers an in-depth analysis of the dialogue’s moral psychology, arguing that dance is not only an educational instrument but also, in terms of the physical expression of ordered pleasure, a symbolic image of the principal goal of moral education: moderation (σωφροσύνη). Thus, choral dance becomes a powerful construct to illustrate Plato’s main philosophical concerns. Other key features of the book include an innovative account of the dialogue’s complex composition, new interpretations of the puppet image and the tragedy claim, and the first chapter-length investigation of the moral funtion of shame. Winner of the Conrado Eggers Lan Prize of the International Plato Society 2022.

In the Gorgias Plato offers a synthesis of what he thinks about the bitter conflict between philosophical and non-philosophical approaches to one’s responsibilities in private and public life. This book contributes to a deeper understanding of this historically and conceptually rich canvas by shedding light on its main topics: speech in its philosophical and non-philosophical forms, psychology in relation to virtuous life, and politics which charges the two former topics with high stakes that call for personal choices.

‘Let me give you a simple example of what I mean, and you will see the rest for yourself.’ This is how Plato usually introduces mathematical examples to illustrate important philosophical puzzles. The research presented in this book offers a systematic analysis of these examples and demonstrates their crucial psychagogical function. Providing a toolkit of paradoxical objects that challenge the soul and summon thought, mathematical examples do not convey demonstrative rigor or exact calculations, but instead induce psychic states of aporia and wonder. The gaze of Plato’s mathematicians is directed both downwards and upwards: precisely for this reason mathematics have the power to awaken the soul and to lead it towards the Forms.«Prendi un piccolo esempio, e saprai tutto quello che voglio dire». Così Platone introduce esempi matematici volti a illustrare snodi filosofici particolarmente problematici. Questo studio fornisce un’analisi sistematica di tali esempi e ne mostra la cruciale funzione psicagogica. Come un toolkit di oggetti paradossali che confondono l’anima e mettono in moto il pensiero, le matematiche degli esempi non veicolano rigore dimostrativo e calcoli esatti, ma inducono stati psichici di aporia e meraviglia. Proprio in virtù del loro sguardo biforcuto, rivolto non solo verso l’alto ma anche verso il basso, le matematiche hanno il potere di risvegliare l’anima e di trainarla verso le Idee.

This collective volume, at the cutting edge of research, presents a wide range of perspectives on Plato's theory of Ideas. It features numerous authors whose main language of publication is not English, thus providing international readers access to a wide range of scholarly works not normally available to them. In this collective volume, to which a number of established scholars of international renown as well as young up-and-coming researchers have contributed, the Platonic theory of Ideas is examined from philological, historical, psychological, metaphysical and ethical viewpoints, presenting a boldly innovative hermeneutical impulse that meets the highest standards of contemporary research.

Les articles de ce recueil étudient différentes questions relatives à la relation entre les affections, les lois et la rationalité dans les Lois de Platon, notamment la fonction et le contenu des préludes, l’ignorance et la colère dans la pénologie, la religion et l’impiété, l’éducation et le plaisir.The chapters of this collection address various topics concerning the relationship between affects, laws and rationality in Plato’s Laws, including the function and content of the preludes, ignorance and anger in penology, religion and impiety, education and pleasure.

Giving souls strong individuality is one of Plato’s most influential but also most controversial innovations. This book addresses such souls’ agency, which is a prerequisite of their many functions not only in human life but in the universe at large. Its conclusion is that the agency proper to the soul stands apart from other Platonic causes as the only full-blooded agent whose actions and passions organize our short moral and civic life, all the while participating, thanks to the soul’s immortal existence and repeated incarnation, in the maintenance of the cosmos as a home to innumerable living species. Together with treating this multitude of the soul’s tasks, the book pays attention to the unavoidable personification of the soul and to the carefully constructed images that impress on the reader its complexity.

How Plato appropriated the pilgrim’s theôria into his own philosophy has been the subject of many noble and insightful studies. When Plato took up this concept, he launched an understanding that would have a very long life in classical philosophy: the idea that doing philosophy itself has an essentially contemplative character was now explicitly formulated. But this only leads us to the next question: according to Plato, what is the nature of this contemplation as a form of cognition? How does philosophy, understood as theôria and as a cognitive activity, relate to other forms of cognition—perception, memory, recollection, imagination, and emotion? The essays collected in this book explore the nature of theôria as cognition, while also taking into account the metaphors, dramatic settings, and cultural background that frame Plato’s dialogues, showing it to be not only a “way of life” but also a form of knowledge.