The Neoplatonic Socrates / / ed. by Harold Tarrant, Danielle A. Layne.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Pennsylvania Press Complete Package 2014-2015
• MitwirkendeR: Addey, Crystal,; Ambury, James M.,; Finamore, John F.,; Griffin, Michael,; Lawrence, Marilynn,; Layne, Danielle A.,; Manolea, Christina-Panagiota,; Renaud, François,; Roskam, Geert,; Tarrant, Harold,
• HerausgeberIn: Layne, Danielle A.,; Tarrant, Harold,
• Place / Publishing House: Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2014]; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)

Today the name Socrates invokes a powerful idealization of wisdom and nobility that would surprise many of his contemporaries, who excoriated the philosopher for corrupting youth. The problem of who Socrates "really" was-the true history of his activities and beliefs-has long been thought insoluble, and most recent Socratic studies have instead focused on reconstructing his legacy and tracing his ideas through other philosophical traditions. But this scholarship has neglected to examine closely a period of philosophy that has much to reveal about what Socrates stood for and how he taught: the Neoplatonic tradition of the first six centuries C.E., which at times decried or denied his importance yet relied on his methods.In The Neoplatonic Socrates, leading scholars in classics and philosophy address this gap by examining Neoplatonic attitudes toward the Socratic method, Socratic love, Socrates's divine mission and moral example, and the much-debated issue of moral rectitude. Collectively, they demonstrate the importance of Socrates for the majority of Neoplatonists, a point that has often been questioned owing to the comparative neglect of surviving commentaries on the Alcibiades, Gorgias, Phaedo, and Phaedrus, in favor of dialogues dealing explicitly with metaphysical issues. Supplemented with a contextualizing introduction and a substantial appendix detailing where evidence for Socrates can be found in the extant literature, The Neoplatonic Socrates makes a clear case for the significant place Socrates held in the education and philosophy of late antiquity.Contributors: Crystal Addey, James M. Ambury, John F. Finamore, Michael Griffin, Marilynn Lawrence, Danielle A. Layne, Christina-Panagiota Manolea, François Renaud, Geert Roskam, Harold Tarrant.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Socratic Love in Neoplatonism -- Chapter 2. Plutarch and Apuleius on Socrates' Daimonion -- Chapter 3. The Daimonion of Socrates: Daimones and Divination in Neoplatonism -- Chapter 4. Socrates in the Neoplatonic Psychology of Hermias -- Chapter 5. The Character of Socrates and the Good of Dialogue Form: Neoplatonic Hermeneutics -- Chapter 6. Hypostasizing Socrates -- Chapter 7. Socratic Character: Proclus on the Function of Erotic Intellect -- Chapter 8. The Elenctic Strategies of Socrates: The Alcibiades I and the Commentary of Olympiodorus -- Chapter 9. Akrasia and Enkrateia in Simplicius's Commentary on Epictetus's Encheiridion -- Chapter 10. The Many-Voiced Socrates: Neoplatonist Sensitivity to Socrates' Change of Register -- Conclusion -- Appendix: The Reception of Socrates in Late Antiquity: Authors, Texts, and Notable References -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Contributors -- General Index -- Acknowledgments