The Real Name of the Stranger: The Meaning of Plato’s Statesman
As a political scientist, I am interested in understanding Plato’s Statesman and in learning whether it teaches us anything noble and useful about politics. To this end,…
Democracy, Language, and Rhetoric
Democracy, Language, And Rhetoric1 “Democracy, Language, and Rhetoric” is a legitimate and important topic. However, upon confronting it, one initially encounters at least three formidable complexes of…
What Is the Metaxy? Diotima and Voegelin
The word “metaxy” (μεταξύ) is a Greek preposition, meaning “between.” Normally, Greek philosophers use “metaxy” much as we use “between” in numerous everyday settings, without great significance.…
One View of Zdravko Planinc’s Critique of Voegelin
A number of scholars whom I admire and who have been good friends to me have suggested that I would be a satisfactory respondent to another good…
Avoiding a Voegelinian Scholasticism
[We need to] recognize that Voegelin is analyzing [Greek] thinkers who appropriated the common Greek meanings of [various] terms for special uses, to designate specific movements of…
Modern Views of Plato’s Silence (Part III)
Stanley Rosen Stanley Rosen himself is a grateful student of Leo Strauss who nevertheless announces: "I am in considerable disagreement with Strauss's general program." 115 His dissent…
Modern Views of Plato’s Silence (Part II)
Leo Strauss joins the debate about Platonic silence on the side of Gott-hold Lessing.60 Perhaps he also sides with Friedrich Nietzsche secretly. He opposes Friedrich Schleiermacher and…
Modern Views of Plato’s Silence (Part I)
Plato directly and indirectly cautions his students that he does not communicate with them straightforwardly. To repeat the warnings quoted previously, Plato fiercely denies in his Seventh…
Eros, Wisdom and Silence of Plato (Part II)
Classical and Contemporary Eros In the Theages, Demodocus, a rural landowner and a committed democrat, approaches Socrates with his son Theages in tow. Demodocus is fearful because…
Eros, Wisdom and Silence of Plato (Part I)
What, if anything, does Socrates know about Eros? The Platonic Socrates is renowned for proclaiming his ignorance. His reputation owes primarily to several statements that he makes…