Plato's myths
By: edited by Catalin Partenie.
Contributors: Partenie, Catalin.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780521887908
Subjects: Plato; Myth; Mythology
Description: "In archaic societies myths were believed to tell true stories - stories about the ultimate origin of reality. For us, on the contrary, the term 'myth' denotes a false belief. Between the archaic notion of myth and ours stands Plato's. This volume is a collection of ten studies by eminent scholars that focus on the ways in which some of Plato's most famous myths are interwoven with his philosophy. The myths discussed include the eschatological myths of the Gorgias, the Phaedo, the Republic and Laws 10, the central myths of the Phaedrus and the Statesman, and the so-called myth of the Noble Lie from the Republic. The mythical character of the Timaeus cosmology is also amply discussed. The volume also contains seventeen rare Renaissance illustrations of Platonic myths. The contributors argue that in Plato myth and philosophy are tightly bound together, despite Plato's occasional claim that they are opposed modes of discourse."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction / Catalin Partenie; title: Plato's eschatological myths / Michael Inwood; title: Myth, punishment, and politics in the Gorgias / David Sedley; title: Tale, theology, and teleology in the Phaedo / Gabor Betegh; title: Fraternite, inegalite, la parole de dieu : Plato's authoritarian myth of political legitimation / Malcolm Schofield; title: Glaucon's reward, philosophy's debt : the myth ofER / G.R.F. Ferrari; title: The charioteer and his horses : one platonic myth in its context / Christopher Rowe; title: The myth of the statesman / Charles Kahn; title: Eikos muthos / M. F. Burnyeat; title: Myth and eschatology in the laws / Richard Stalley; title: Platonic myth in Renaissance iconography / Elizabeth McGrath.