Essays on Plato's Psychology

by Wagner, Ellen; Bett, Richard; Bobonich, Christopher; Bostock, David; Brown, Eric A.; Cooper, John M.; Frede, Dorothea; Gallop, David; Lear, Jonathan; Smith, Nicholas D.; Robinson, Thomas M.; Shields, Christopher; Taylor, C.C.W; Weller, Cass; Williams, Ber

• ISBN13: 9780739102589
• ISBN10: 0739102583
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-10
• Publisher: LEXINGTON BOOKS

Summary

The last several decades have witnessed an explosion of research in Platonic philosophy. A central focus of his philosophical effort, Plato's psychology is of interest both in its own right and as fundamental to his metaphysical and moral theories. This anthology offers, for the first time, a collection of the best classic and recent essays on cenral topics of Plato's psychological theory, including essays on the nature of the soul, studies of the tripartite soul for which Plato argues in the Republic, and analyses of his varied arguments for immortality. With a comprehensive introduction to the major issues of Plato's psychology and an up-to-date bibliography of work on the relevant issues, this much-needed text makes the study of Plato's psychology accessible to scholars in ancient Greek philosophy, classics, and history of psychology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(34)
I. The Nature of the Soul
Fallacies in the Phaedo Again	35	(16)
Cass Weller
The Arguments in the Phaedo Concerning the Thesis That the Soul Is a Harmonia	51	(18)
C. C. W. Taylor
Supervenience and the Thesis That the Soul Is a Harmonia	69	(22)
Ellen Wagner
II. The Tripartite Soul
Plato's Theory of Human Motivation	91	(24)
John M. Cooper
Plato's Analogy of Soul and State	115	(22)
Nicholas D. Smith
Simple Souls	137	(20)
Christopher Shields
The Analogy of City and Soul in Plato's Republic	157	(12)
Bernard Williams
Inside and Outside the Republic	169	(34)
Jonathan Lear
Akrasia and Agency in Plato's Laws and Republic	203	(38)
Christopher Bobonich
III. Arguments for Immortality of the Soul
The Soul and Immortality in Plato's Phaedo	241	(22)
David Bostock
Plato's ``Cyclical'' Argument Recycled	263	(18)
David Gallop
The Final Proof of the Immortality of the Soul in Plato's Phaedo 102a-107a	281	(16)
Dorothea Frede
A Defense of Plato's Argument for the Immortality of the Soul at Republic X 608c-611a	297	(26)
Eric A. Brown
The Argument for Immortality in Plato's Phaedrus	323	(12)
Thomas M. Robinson
Immortality and the Nature of the Soul in the Phaedrus	335	(28)
Richard Bett
Selected Bibliography	363	(8)
Index	371	(4)
Index Locorum	375	(8)
About the Contributors	383