Athens Victorious: Democracy in Plato's Republic (Paperback)
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Short Description for Athens Victorious Athens Victorious examines the notion of freedom in Plato's Republic, the proper understanding of which the author argues is essential for understanding the dialogue's ultimate political message. A close, thorough, and innovative analysis of the section of the dialogue in which various constitutional options are discussed leads to the surprising conclusion that the dialogue is advocating democracy
Full description- Publisher: Lexington Books
- Published: 30 January 2010
- Format: Paperback 262 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Political Structures: Democracy | Classical History / Classical Civilisation | Philosophy | Western Philosophy: Ancient, To C 500 | Social & Political Philosophy
- ISBN 13: 9780739123270 ISBN 10: 0739123270
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Full description for Athens Victorious
Plato's Republic is typically thought to recommend a form of government that, from our current perspective, seems perniciously totalitarian. Athens Victorious demonstrates that Plato intended quite the opposite: to demonstrate the superiority of a democratic constitution. Greg Recco provides a brilliant rereading of Book Eight. Often considered an anticlimax, Book Eight seems to be a mere catalogue of mistakes but is in fact one of Plato's most neglected literary creations: a mythic or epic restaging of the Peloponnesian War that pitted Sparta's militaristic oligarchy against Athens' democracy. In Plato's reenactment, Athens wins. Recco argues that the values identified in Book Eight as distinctively democratic were the very ones that served as the unannounced touchstones of moral and political judgment throughout the dialogue. Athens Victorious is an important reinterpretation of The Republic. It is an excellent resource for students and scholars of Classical studies, philosophy, and political theory.
