Research Catalog

Title

Philosophy as agôn : a study of Plato's Gorgias and related texts / Robert Metcalf.

Author

Metcalf, Robert D.

Publication

• Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2018.
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

ix, 223 pages; 23 cm.

Summary

N Philosophy as Agôn: A Study of Plato's Gorgias and Related Texts, Robert Metcalf offers a fresh interpretation of Plato's dialogues as dramatic texts whose philosophy is not so much a matter of doctrine as it is a dynamic, nondogmatic, and open-ended practice of engaging others in agonistic dialogue. Metcalf challenges prevailing interpretations according to which the agôn (contest or struggle) between the interlocutors in the dialogues is inessential to Plato's philosophical purpose, or simply a reflection of the cultural background of ancient Greek life. Instead, he argues that Plato understands philosophy as essentially agonistic--involving the adversarial engagement of others in dialogue such that one's integrity is put to the test through this engagement, and where the agôn is structured so as to draw adversaries together in agreement about the matters at issue, though that agreement is always open to future contest. Based on a careful reading of the Gorgias and related Socratic dialogues, such as Apology and Theaetetus, Metcalf contends that agôn is indispensable to the critique of prevailing opinions, to the transformation of the interlocutor through shame-inducing refutation, and to philosophy as a lifelong training (askêsis) of oneself in relation to others.

Series Statement

Rereading ancient philosophy

Uniform Title

Rereading ancient philosophy.

Subject

• Plato
• Apology (Plato)
• Gorgias (Plato)
• Rhetoric > Philosophy
• PHILOSOPHY / General

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-217) and index.

Contents

Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The practice and problematization of philosophy as agon : Plato's Apology and Theaetetus -- Elenchos as agon : Socrates, Gorgias, and Polus -- Contesting the demos : Socrates and Callicles -- Seeing the agon through a mythos.

Call Number

JFE 19-6229

ISBN

• 9780810137974
• 0810137976
• 9780810137981
• 0810137984

LCCN

• 2018020135
• 15220501

OCLC

1037884838

Author

Metcalf, Robert D., author.

Title

Philosophy as agôn : a study of Plato's Gorgias and related texts / Robert Metcalf.

Publisher

Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2018.

Copyright Date

©2018

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Rereading ancient philosophy

Rereading ancient philosophy.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-217) and index.

Other Standard Identifier

15220501

Research Call Number

JFE 19-6229