Plato's Fable

This book offers an interpretation of Platonic moral and metaphysical philosophy in Republic, with particular emphasis on the so‐called ‘noble lie’ (or ‘virtuous fiction’ or ‘fable’). It is concerned with the ‘fable’ of Republic itself in the broader sense of its advancement of notions concerning justice. Mitchell prefaces his text with an apology for the subjectivity of his interpretation, which, as he points out, would not have been necessary in a previous age, when it would have been received under the category of a ‘commentary’. Plato's Fable began as a short project entailing a comparison between the political philosophies of de Tocqueville and Plato, but developed thence into its present incarnation. The text retains in no small part its initial remit of comparisons with modern philosophers, and of their connections in turn with Plato. The introductory chapter is a tour de force of contemporary political and moral philosophy. Mitchell begins with the West's disappointment with Enlightenment reason, based as it was on notions of divine order. He discusses Hegel and the origins of ‘cult of personality’, along with Rousseau's notions of imitation, which led to the modern conflict between socialization and identity politics. He claims that his reason for turning to the history of such tropes is to illuminate their Reformation origins. This, he maintains, allows for a clearer understanding of the relationship between reason and mimesis in Republic. He then proceeds to examine the aristocratic, timocratic and tyrannical souls outlined in that text along with divine Reason as the Platonic pharmakon offered to save the ailing human psyche

Art · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Fable · Hegelianism · Interpretation (philosophy) · Literature · Metaphysics · Politics · The Republic · Classical Philosophy and Thought · History of Science and Medicine · Law · Philosophy