Why Plato Wrote. Danielle S. Allen. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. As part of the Blackwell Bristol Lectures Series on Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition, Danielle S. Allen has produced an extraordinary book that not only offers an answer to the title question of her book,
Nice book and review -- but is there no mention of the Seventh Letter, which seems to be one of the primary reasons for the question to begin with? Does she dispense with it because we're unsure if it's his?
Does she take seriously the qualifications that appear in Republic -- "I don't think a government like this could ever exist," etc.?
Does she address Plato's historical context, that he was a member of one of the families that overthrew, briefly, Athenian democracy, the 30 tyrants? I read Republic as a kind of apology for that decision that doesn't completely validate it either.
Nice book and review -- but is there no mention of the Seventh Letter, which seems to be one of the primary reasons for the question to begin with? Does she dispense with it because we're unsure if it's his?
Does she take seriously the qualifications that appear in Republic -- "I don't think a government like this could ever exist," etc.?
Does she address Plato's historical context, that he was a member of one of the families that overthrew, briefly, Athenian democracy, the 30 tyrants? I read Republic as a kind of apology for that decision that doesn't completely validate it either.