The Cambridge Companion to Socrates

by Donald R. Morrison

Overview

The Cambridge Companion to Socrates is a collection of essays providing a comprehensive guide to Socrates, the most famous Greek philosopher. Because Socrates himself wrote nothing, our evidence comes from the writings of his friends (above all Plato), his enemies, and later writers. Socrates is thus a literary figure as well as a historical person. Both aspects of Socrates’ legacy are covered in this volume. Socrates’ character is full of paradox, and so are his philosophical views. These paradoxes have led to deep differences in scholar’s interpretation of Socrates and his thought. Mirroring this wide range of thought about Socrates, this volume’s contributors are unusually diverse in their background and perspective. The essays in this volume were authored by classical philologists, philosophers, and historians from Germany, Francophone Canada, Britain, and the United States, and they represent a range of interpretive and philosophical traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521541039
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/22/2010
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Philosophy
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	436
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Donald R. Morrison is currently a Professor of Philosophy and Classical Studies at Rice University. He has also been a Rockefeller Fellow at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, a Junior Fellow of the Center for Hellenic Studies, and a Visiting Professor at the University Paris I-Sorbonne. His publications have appeared in edited collections and scholarly journals, including Polis, Ancient Philosophy and the History of Political Thought.

Table of Contents

Contributors ix

Editor's Preface xiii

Abbreviations xvii

1 The Rise and Fall of the Socratic Problem Louis-André Dorion 1

2 The Students of Socrates Klaus Döring 24

3 Xenophon and the Enviable Life of Socrates David K. O'Connor 48

4 Socrates in Aristophanes' Clouds David Konstan 75

5 Socrates and the New Learning Paul Woodruef 91

6 Socratic Religion Mark L. McPherran 111

7 Socrates and Democratic Athens Josiah Ober 138

8 Socratic Method Hugh H. Benson 179

9 Self-Examination Christopher Rowe 201

10 Socratic Ignorance Richard Bett 215

11 Reconsidering Socratic Irony Melissa Lane 237

12 Socratic Ethics and the Socratic Psychology of Action: A Philosophical Framework Terry Penner 260

13 Socrates and Eudaimonia Christopher Bobonich 293

14 Socrates' Political Philosophy Charles L. Griswold 333

15 Socrates in Later Greek Philosophy A. A. Long 355

Socrates Bibliography 381

Index of Names and Subjects 391

Index of Passages 401

Editorial Reviews

"This volume not only offers a coherent introduction to different aspects of Socrates for beginners in the field of study but also serves scholars who are experts in the field by discussing problems in major areas of Socratic research. Every essay is accessible, well informed, detailed, learned, and systematic in its presentation. The collection is a major achievement and will be an excellent tool for research. It will be read with profit by anyone who is interested in one of the most inspiring and influential figures of antiquity."
—Michael Erler, University of Wurzburg


“This volume is as authoritative as it is diverse. Donald Morrison is to be congratulated for having assembled a stellar group of contributors from a variety of fields and of scholarly backgrounds, who between them do justice to the ‘contested territory’ that is Socrates – all within the convenient limits of a quite compact volume.”
—G. R. F. Ferrari, University of California, Berkeley


“Donald Morrison’s volume brings together some of the best recent work on Socrates, representing a wide variety of approaches to this subject. It is a substantial contribution to Socratic studies and should prove to be an indispensable tool for further research.”
—Richard Kraut, Northwestern University


"....Donald Morrison's
Companion to Socrates
provides a fine introduction to English language scholarship on Socrates.... uniformly high quality.... This is a good book, and is more manageable in scope and half as expensive as the rival Blackwell Companion to Socrates. 2 Donald Morrison deserves great credit for ably assembling an all-star team of contributors, and he includes a selective and well-organized bibliography and an index locorum.
—David M. Johnson, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale , Bryn Mawr Classical Review


"This book features 15 essays by famous scholars.... Recommended...."
—N. D. Smith, Lewis and Clark College, CHOICE


"Unlike many of its counterparts (e.g., A Companion to Socrates, Blackwell, 2006), this companion (CCS) devotes more of its contents to Socrates’ philosophy and less to his historical and political circumstance and his many influences upon subsequent cultures. In this sense, the CCS is more a companion to philosophy than is its counterparts.... the articles in CCS are uniformly of a very high level of scholarship, and each is authored by leading scholars in Socratic thought or in ancient philosophy more generally. CCS will be of particular use to scholars seeking to acquire a greater proficiency in Socrates, as the majority of problems central to that scholarship each receive sustained attention. Seasoned Socratics, too, will find some original and controversial work here and should therefore not overlook it.... Each piece includes its own bibliography. When taken together, these constitute as thorough a bibliography as one could hope to find on Socrates.... A clear strength of this volume is its collection of essays concerning the fabled “Socratic Problem.”... I know of no other volume that has devoted such an array of worthy studies to this complicated issue..."
—Philosophy in Review, Patrick Mooney, John Carroll University

From the Publisher