Playful Philosophy and Serious Sophistry: A Reading of Plato’s "Euthydemus"

Georgia Sermamoglou-Soulmaidi

Published by De Gruyter 2014

Playful Philosophy and Serious Sophistry

A Reading of Plato’s "Euthydemus"

Georgia Sermamoglou-Soulmaidi

Volume 115 in the series Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110365870

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book provides an interpretation of Plato’s Euthydemus as a unified piece of literature, taking into account both its dramatic and its philosophical aspects. It aims to do justice to a major Platonic work which has so far received comparatively little treatment. Except for the sections of the dialogue in which Socrates presents an argument on the pursuit of eudaimonia, the Euthydemus seems to have been largely ignored. The reason for this is that much of the work’s philosophical import lies hidden underneath a veil of riotous comedy. This book shows how a reading of the dialogue as a whole, rather than a limited focus on the Socratic scenes, sheds light on the work’s central philosophical questions. It argues the Euthydemus points not only to the differences between Socrates and the sophists, but also to actual and alleged similarities between them. The framing scenes comment precisely on this aspect of the internal dialogue, with Crito still lumping together philosophy and eristic shortly before his discussion with Socrates comes to an end. Hence the question that permeates the Euthydemus is raised afresh at the end of the dialogue: what is properly to be termed philosophy?

Author / Editor information

Georgia Sermamoglou-Soulmaidi, Foundation of the Hellenic World, Athens.

Supplementary Materials

Contents

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Playful Philosophy: The Protreptic Scenes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
2 Serious Sophistry: The Eristic Scenes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
3 Conflating Philosophy and Sophistry: The Framing Scenes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
4 Reversals: Laughter, Play, and Seriousness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Conclusion: Overall Interpretation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Appendix: The Structure of the Euthydemus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
Index of Proper Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
Greek Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: All those interested in ancient Greek philosophy
Pages
- Main content: 242
Keywords: Euthydemus; Plato

eBook

Published: August 29, 2014
ISBN: 9783110365870

Hardcover

Published: July 28, 2014
ISBN: 9783110368093