Plato’S Four Muses: The Phaedrus And The Poetics Of Philosophy (Hellenic Studies Series)

Plato's Four Muses reconstructs Plato's authorial self-portrait through a fresh reading of the Phhaedrus, with an Introduction and Conclusion that contextualize the construction more broadly. The reference to four Muses in the myth of the cicadas is read as a hint of the "ingredients" of philosophical discourse, which Plato sets against the Greek tradition of poetic initiations and conceptualizes as a form of provocatively old-fasioned 'mousike'.The book unravels three surprising features that define Plato's works. First, there is a measure of anti-intellectualism: Plato counters the rationalistic excesses of other forms of discourse, thus distinguishing his own words from both prose and poetry; second, Plato envisages a new beginning for philosophy: he conceptualizes the birth of Socratic dialogue in, and against, the Pythagorean tradition, with an emphasis on the new role of writing and on the cult of Socrates in the Academy; finally, a self-consciously ambivalent attitude emerges with respect to the social function of the dialogues. Plato's works are conceived both as a kind of “resistance literature” and as a preliminary move towards the new poetry of the Kallipolis. 9780674417229 0674417224 0 BOOK Literature NOT_MATURE http://books.google.com/books/content?id=guwCoQEACAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=5&source=gbs_api en

• | Author: Andrea Capra
• | Publisher: Center For Hellenic Studies
• | Publication Date: Dec 15, 2014
• | Number of Pages: 252 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 0674417224
• | ISBN-13: 9780674417229