A Companion to Plato

Notes on Contributors viii

Preface xii

Abbreviations xiv

1 The Life of Plato of Athens 1
DEBRA NAILS

2 Interpreting Plato 13
CHRISTOPHER ROWE

3 The Socratic Problem 25
WILLIAM J. PRIOR

Part I PLATONIC METHOD AND THE DIALOGUE FORM 37

4 Form and the Platonic Dialogues 39
MARY MARGARET MCCABE

5 The Socratic Elenchus 55
CHARLES M. YOUNG

6 Platonic Definitions and Forms 70
R. M. DANCY

7 Plato’s Method of Dialectic 85
HUGH H. BENSON

Part II PLATONIC EPISTEMOLOGY 101

8 Socratic Ignorance 103
GARETH B. MATTHEWS

9 Plato on Recollection 119
CHARLES KAHN

10 Plato: A Theory of Perception or a Nod to Sensation? 133
DEBORAH K. W. MODRAK

11 Knowledge and the Forms in Plato 146
MICHAEL FEREJOHN

Part III PLATONIC METAPHYSICS 163

12 The Forms and the Sciences in Socrates and Plato 165
TERRY PENNER

13 Problems for Forms 184
MARY LOUISE GILL

14 The Role of Cosmology in Plato’s Philosophy 199
CYNTHIA FREELAND

15 Plato on Language 214
DAVID SEDLEY

16 Plato and Mathematics 228
MICHAEL J. WHITE

17 Platonic Religion 244
MARK L. MCPHERRAN

Part IV PLATONIC PSYCHOLOGY 261

18 The Socratic Paradoxes 263
THOMAS C. BRICKHOUSE and NICHOLAS D. SMITH

19 The Platonic Soul 278
FRED D. MILLER, JR.

20 Plato on Eros and Friendship 294
C. D. C. REEVE

21 Plato on Pleasure as the Human Good 308
GERASIMOS SANTAS

Part V PLATONIC ETHICS, POLITICS, AND AESTHETICS 323

22 The Unity of the Virtues 325
DANIEL DEVEREUX

23 Plato on Justice 341
DAVID KEYT

24 Plato’s Concept of Goodness 356
NICHOLAS WHITE

25 Plato on the Law 373
SUSAN SAUVÉ MEYER

26 Plato and the Arts 388
CHRISTOPHER JANAWAY

Part VI PLATONIC LEGACY 401

27 Learning about Plato from Aristotle 403
CHRISTOPHER SHIELDS

28 Plato and Hellenistic Philosophy 418
A. A. LONG

29 Plato’s Influence on Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy 434
SARA AHBEL-RAPPE

Index 452