Enthusiasm and Divine Madness: On the Platonic Dialogue Phaedrus
Josef Pieper, Richard Winston (Translator), Clara WinstonBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Plato's famous dialogue, the Phaedrus, was variously subtitled in antiquity: "On Beauty," "On Love," "On the Psyche." It is also concerned with the art of rhetoric, of thought and communication." "Pieper gives interpretation of the dialogue. Leaving the more recondite scholarly preoccupations aside, he concentrates on the content, bringing the actual situation in the dialogue - Athens and its intellectuals engaged in spirited debate - alive. Equally alive is the discussion of ideas, which are brought to bear on contemporary experience and made to prove the perennial validity of Socratic wisdom, and its power to excite the mind. The main thesis - that in poetry and in love man is "beside himself," that is, divinely inspired - is discussed with reference to modern poets, novelists, and modern psychology.Synopsis
Plato's famous dialogue, the Phaedrus, was variously subtitled in antiquity: AOnBeauty, AOn Love, AOn the Psyche. It is also concerned with the art of rhetoric, of thought and communication. Pieper, noted for the grace and clarity of his style, gives an illuminating and stimulating interpretation of the dialogue. Leaving the more recondite scholarly preoccupations aside, he concentrates on the content, bringing the actual situation in the dialogue B Athens and its intellectuals engaged in spirited debate B alive. Equally alive is the discussion of ideas, which are brought to bear on contemporary experience and made to prove the perennial validity of Socratic wisdom, and its power to excite the mind. The main thesis B that in poetry and in love man is Abeside himself, that is, divinely inspired B is discussed with reference to modern poets, novelists, and modern psychology.
APieper's . . . book . . . is in every way beautiful: in format, in translation, in subject (Plato's Phaedrus), in its philosophic grace. B Christian Century APieper, well-known German philosopher, has given us an illuminating and stimulating interpretation of the dialogue. . . . Essential in philosophy sections of larger public, academic and special libraries. B Library Journal