The State of the Question in the Study of Plato

Abstract

The sheer magnitude of the scholarly literature on Plato makes its assessment difficult.' Even if we leave aside editions and translations, the study of Plato is carried on in many languages other than the more familiar English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish2 and by scholars in an astonishing diversity of fields:

The State of the Question in the Study of Plato: Twenty Year Update

“…In the last twenty years, these older elements continue to be found, for example, in edited collections that exclude representatives of different orientations . Some scholars continue to accept compositional chronology and the simple developmental picture of the earlier period, despite continuing and powerful criticisms of the sort outlined in Press but fully presented in Thesleff and Nails . Some give up a strong commitment to the specifics of chronology.…”

“…Several variants of mainstream dogmatic interpretation identified in Press survive. Students and followers of Gregory Vlastos seeking a doctrinal “Socratic philosophy” in the “early Socratic dialogues” continue to find adherents, but criticism has continued as well .…”

“… Abstract This article updates “The State of the Question in the Study of Plato” ( Southern Journal of Philosophy , ) based on research covering the years from 1995–2015. Its three major parts examine: (1) how the mid‐twentieth‐century consensus has fared, (2) whether the new trends identified in that article have continued, and (3) identify trends either new or missed in the original article.…”

“… In addition to the sources cited in Press , 507, n. 1, Ritter's massive “Bericht über die den letzten Jahrzehnten über Platon erscheinenen Arbeiten,” which appeared in pieces from 1912 to 1924 with supplements published in 1929 and 1930, all in the Jahresbericht über die Fortschritte der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft , established the overall structure and organization adopted at the outset by L'année philologique and still in use. Whereas Ritter included English and American publications in his reviews, Liesegang attempts to sum up the course of Plato studies but restricts himself to German scholarship.…”

Plato at the Foundation of Disciplines: Method and the Metaxu in the Phaedrus, Sophist, and Symposium

“…In the history of Plato scholarship, Press argues that interpretation of the dialogues is consistently organized around overcoming and dispelling Plato's persistent authorial anonymity. "Throughout most of its history," Press (1996) writes:…”