The Menexenus Reconsidered

Huby, Pamela M.

doi:10.1163/156852857x00030

Cited by 13 publications

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“…To be convincing, interpretations of the Menexenus must not only explain why Socrates delivers a seemingly un-Socratic speech, however, but also why he attributes it to Aspasia. Given that Aspasia was the foreign mistress of the famous statesman Pericles, some argue that the attribution simply serves to invite readers to compare Socrates’ oration to Pericles’ (Huby 1957, 109–10; Kahn 1963, 232). Yet, if this is true, then why does Socrates insist on her authorship from beginning to end?…”

Section: Socrates’ Aspasian Oration: Satirical Serious or Ironic?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreigners as Liberators: Education and Cultural Diversity in Plato'sMenexenus

LeMoine

2017

Am Polit Sci Rev

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Though recent scholarship challenges the traditional interpretation of Plato as anti-democratic, his antipathy to cultural diversity is still generally assumed. TheMenexenusappears to offer some of the most striking evidence of Platonic xenophobia, as it features Socrates delivering a mock funeral oration that glorifies Athens’ exclusion of foreigners. Yet when readers play along with Socrates’ exhortation to imagine the oration through the voice of its alleged author Aspasia, Pericles’ foreign mistress, the oration becomes ironic or dissonant. Through this, Plato shows that foreigners can act as gadflies, liberating citizens from the intellectual hubris that occasions democracy's fall into tyranny. In reminding readers of Socrates’ death, the dialogue warns, however, that fear of education may prevent democratic citizens from appreciating the role of cultural diversity in cultivating the virtue of Socratic wisdom.

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Section: Socrates’ Aspasian Oration: Satirical Serious or Ironic?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreigners as Liberators: Education and Cultural Diversity in Plato'sMenexenus

LeMoine

2017

Am Polit Sci Rev

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“…Commentators who see some serious import in the Menexenus tend to think that it is of a political nature rather than philosophical. In particular, both Huby (1957) and Kahn (1963) read the dialogue as a political pamphlet, one meant to shame the current Athenian government into changing some of its recent policies. They support their views with plausible historical analysis of the dialogue and I do not wish to argue against them.…”

Section: The Argument In the Menexenusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also introduced are grounds for thinking that the speech to follow is going to be to some extent a parody of Pericles' funeral oration as reported by Thucydides. For textual and historical support for the parody view, see Huby 1957, Kahn 1963, and Monoson 1998. All three recognize that there is some amount of parody in the dialogue directed at Pericles and Thucydides, but, at the same time, they do not share A. E. Taylor's view (1960) that the whole dialogue must be read ironically.…”

Section: Conclusion: Plato and Modern Virtue Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All seem to agree that at least the last part of the dialogue is meant to be taken as a serious piece of philosophy. 14 Pamela Huby (1957) read this as a political pamphlet designed to shame Athens for her recently created policy of seeking to cut back state support for war orphans. 15 That there should be such an argument is compatible with the view that the dialogue criticizes Athenian policies, especially if Plato thought that those policies no longer supported the virtuous life in Athens.…”

Section: Conclusion: Plato and Modern Virtue Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtue Ethics, Politics, and the Function of Laws: The Parent Analogy in Plato's Menexenus

Bergès

2007

Dialogue

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Can virtue ethics say anything worthwhile about laws? What would a virtue-ethical account of good laws look like? I argue that a plausible answer to that question can be found in Plato's parent analogies in the Crito and the Menexenus . I go on to show that the Menexenus gives us a philosophical argument to the effect that laws are just only if they enable citizens to flourish. I then argue that the resulting virtue-ethical account of just laws is not viciously paternalistic. Finally, I refute the objection that the virtue-ethical account I am proposing is not distinct from a consequentialist account. RÉSUMÉ : Peut-on construire une théorie de la loi à partir de l'éthique de la vertu? Qu'est ce qu'une bonne loi?Je dis que l'on trouvera une réponse à la question dans l'analogie entre les lois et les parents présentée par Platon dans le Criton et leMénéxène . Dans §2, je montre que le Ménéxène apporte une défense philosophique de l'argument que les lois sont bonne seulement si elles amènent les citoyens a la vertu. Dans §3, je montre que cette théorie des lois selon la vertu n'est pas outre mesure paternaliste. Dans la dernière section, je réponds a l'objection suivante : que la théorie que je défend n'est ni plus ni moins qu'une théorie conséquentialiste.

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Literatur- und Abkürzungsverzeichnis

Tsitsiridis¹

1998

Platons Menexenos

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The Menexenus Reconsidered

Cited by 13 publications

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Foreigners as Liberators: Education and Cultural Diversity in Plato'sMenexenus

Foreigners as Liberators: Education and Cultural Diversity in Plato'sMenexenus

Virtue Ethics, Politics, and the Function of Laws: The Parent Analogy in Plato's Menexenus

Literatur- und Abkürzungsverzeichnis

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