Plato and the Poets

Scholars of ancient philosophy or classics explore the complex relationship between Plato and the poets and poetry, which he both discusses often and criticizes harshly. To make the essays easy for non-specialists, Greek terms are in Latin script, with the original in footnotes. The topics include poetry in Plato's Gorgias, his Ion and the ethics of praise, inspiration and inspired poets in his dialogues, poets at the symposium, mimesis and psychological change in Republic III, whether there is a cure for poetry in the Republic, soul division and mimesis in Republic X, myth and poetry in the Timaeus, and coric poetry in the Laws. Half of the papers are from a May 2006 conference in Louvain. Only passages are indexed. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Pierre Destree, PhD (1994) in Philosophy, University of Louvain, is Research Associate at the Fonds belge de la Recherche Scientifique, and Associate Professor at the University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve). His publications include articles in Greek ethics, and aesthetics. He has co-edited (with Ch. Bobonich) Akrasia in Greek Philosophy (Brill 2007) and (with Carole Talon-Hugon), Art et morale. Approches Historiques (Editions Obaldia) 2011.Fritz-Gregor Herrmann PhD (1999) in Classics, University of Edinburgh, is Reader in Ancient Philosophy and Literature at Swansea University. His publications include Words and Ideas. The roots of Plato’s Philosophy (Classical Press of Wales 2007). He has edited New Essays on Plato. Language and thought in Fourth-Century Greek Philosophy (Classical Press of Wales 2006) and co-edited (with Douglas Cairns and Terry Penner) Pursuing the Good. Ethics and metaphysics in Plato’s Republic (Edinburgh University Press 2007).Contributors: Elizabeth Belfiore, Stefan Buttner, Carlotta Capuccino, Catherine Collobert, Francisco J, Gonzalez, Stephen Halliwell, Antony Hatzistavrou, Gabriel Richardson Lear, Jera Maru?ic, Glenn W. Most, Penelope Murray, Noburu Notomi, Elisabeth Pender, Suzanne Sauve Meyer, Gretchen Reydams-Schils, Dominic Scott, Rachel Singpurwalla.