Beautiful City
Subtitle: The Dialectical Character of Plato's Republic
Publisher: Cornell University Press; University Presses Marketing [distributor]
Published: April 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780801440878
Subjects: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval; Philosophy; Political science & theory; Plato.; History & Theory - General; Ancient Greece; Political; Criticism; History & Surveys - Ancient & Classical; Ancient - Greece; Plato; Republic
First sentence: In book 2, of the Republic, Socrates makes a promise to Adeimantus: "First we'll investigate what justice is like in the cities.
Description: "In Beautiful City, David Roochnik argues convincingly that Plato's masterpiece is misunderstood by modern readers. The work must, he explains, be read dialectically, its parts understood as forming a unified whole. Approached in this way, the text no longer appears to defend an authoritarian and monolithic political system, but rather supplies a qualified defense of democracy and the values of diversity.".

"Writing in clear and straightforward prose, Roochnik demonstrates how Plato's treatment of the city and the soul evolves throughout the dialogue and can be appreciated only by considering the Republic in its entirety. He shows that the views expressed in the early parts of the text do not represent Plato's final judgment on these subjects but are in fact dialectical "moments" intended to be both partial and provisional.

Books 5-7 of the Republic are, he maintains, meant to revise and improve upon books 2-4. Similarly, he sees the usually neglected books 8-10 as advancing beyond the thoughts presented in the previous books. Paying particular attention to these later books, Roochnik details, for instance, how the stories of the "mistaken" regimes, which are often seen as unimportant, are actually crucial in Plato's account of the soul."--BOOK JACKET.