Socrates' Second Sailing: On Plato's Republic - Paperback

by Seth Benardete (Author)

In this section-by-section commentary, Benardete argues that Plato's Republic is a holistic analysis of the beautiful, the good, and the just. This book provides a fresh interpretation of the Republic and a new understanding of philosophy as practiced by Plato and Socrates.

"Cryptic allusions, startling paradoxes, new questions . . . all work to give brilliant new insights into the Platonic text."-Arlene W. Saxonhouse, Political Theory

Back Jacket

When the winds fall, the sailor picks up his oars, no longer relying on help outside his own power. This 'second sailing, ' according to the distinguished classicist Seth Benardete, is the essence of Socratic philosophizing. In this section-by-section commentary, Benardete argues that Plato's Republic is itself a self-powered analysis of the beautiful, the good, and the just. Socrates' Second Sailing provides at once a fresh interpretation of the Republic and a new understanding of philosophy as practiced by Plato and Socrates.