Virtues of Authenticity [Hardcover]

Alexander Nehamas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 23, 1998

Philosopher and classical scholar Alexander Nehamas presents here a collection of his essays on Plato and Socrates. The papers are unified in theme by the idea that Plato's central philosophical concern in metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics was to distinguish the authentic from the fake, the original from its imitations. In the book's opening section, Nehamas discusses Plato's representation of Socrates as a model of authentic human goodness, showing that Plato's Socrates is a more skeptical, troubling, and individualistic thinker than is usually supposed. The papers in the second section form a sustained defence of a new understanding of Plato's theory of the forms and the evolution of that theory in Plato's later writings. The third section examines Plato's contention that popular entertainment - by which he meant Greek epic and tragic poetry - misleads its audience into a debased life, an argument Nehamas relates to modern anxieties about television and other forms of popular culture. The collection also includes a discussion of Plato's use of the dialogue form in his representation of Socrates and examines the combination of literary and philosophical elements in his work.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In The Art of Living, an intelligently written and closely argued book, Nehamas (humanities, philosophy, and comparative literature, Princeton; Nietzsche: Life as Literature, LJ 12/85) begins with a reexamination of Socrates' significance in Western philosophy and then proceeds to show his importance in the writings of Montaigne, Nietzsche, and Foucault, in particular with respect to what Nehamas calls the tradition in Western philosophy of writings about the "art of living." Nehamas gives the thrust of the book clearly in the introduction: "[My] own view," he writes, "is that no single mode of life exists that is best for all people and that the philosophical life is only one among many praise-worthy ways of living. I do not urge a `return' to a conception of philosophy as a way of life...[but] I do believe that we should recognize that such a conception exists." He perceives this as a counterbalance to the way much philosophy is carried on today. Nehamas analyzes the three thinkers he has chosen with considerable skill. This original work should be part of all philosophy collections. Virtues of Authenticity is a collection of 16 previously published essays on various themes concerning Plato and Socrates. The essays are divided into four groups. The first focuses on Socrates and questions relating to epistemological method and the idea of goodness. The second deals with several aspects of Platonic metaphysics and epistemology. The third considers questions of Plato's aesthetics, while the fourth contains one essay each on the Republic, Phaedrus, and the Symposium. The essays are all well written and well argued; for those who are not familiar with Nehamas's work in Greek philosophy, this collection provides an excellent introduction. Recommended for all philosophy collections.?Terry C. Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

"I cannot imagine that any scholar of Plato is unfamiliar with the work of Alexander Nehamas, but few will know all of these essays. It is a great boon to have them all collected and published under one cover. With the passing of his teacher, Gregory Vlastos, there is no one who combines philosophical acumen with literary sensitivity quite so well."--Allan Silverman, Ohio State University

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (November 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691001774
• ISBN-13: 978-0691001777
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,152,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good. Nehamas @ his best., December 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtues of Authenticity (Paperback)

Virtues of Authenticity comprises of more than a dozen essays on varying themes on Plato and Socrates; primarily Plato; and includes Nehamas' essays on the Symposium, the Phaedrus and the Republic, which also appear in the volumes he had translated earlier. Nehamas tries to answer basic questions, like what and to whom Socrates taught, or why Plato hated poetry. His analytical rigor really shows and the book, despite the depth of his analysis, reads really well, though you always feel that you may have lost an entire level of meaning; and you have, indeed.

Very interesting in conjunction with Vlastos' work as well as with Nehamas' own lectures in his "Art of Living" on Socratic and Platonic irony.