What Would Socrates Do?
Self-Examination, Civic Engagement, and the Politics of Philosophy

This book challenges popular modern views of Socrates by examining the political significance of his activity in ancient Athens.

Joel Alden Schlosser (Author)

9781107067424, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 July 2014

214 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.46 kg

'Interrupting centuries of reception invested in an ironic Socrates, this bold and beautifully written book provides readers of Plato's dialogues with a far more fascinating and ambivalent figure: that of the atopic Socrates. Schlosser's atopic Socrates opens up new forms of democratic engagement even while putting the Athenians', and our own, most comforting democratic traditions, practices, and pretensions into question. Grounded in a historically informed account of the multilayered complexities of Athenian democratic practices, and a bold new interpretation of Socrates' multidimensional disruptions of them, Schlosser's book challenges the interpretations of Socrates found in the works of Hannah Arendt, Judith Butler, Sheldon Wolin, Gregory Vlastos, Jacques Rancière, Bruno Latour and Michel Foucault. The book poses anew the question 'what would Socrates do?' not only for Plato scholars but also for all contemporary democratic theorists and activists.' Christina Tarnopolsky, McGill University, Montréal

Socrates continues to be an extremely influential force to this day; his work is featured prominently in the work of contemporary thinkers ranging from Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Michel Foucault and Jacques Rancière. Intervening in this discussion, What Would Socrates Do? reconstructs Socrates' philosophy in ancient Athens to show its promise of empowering citizens and non-citizens alike. By drawing them into collective practices of dialogue and reflection, philosophy can help people to become thinking, acting beings more capable of fully realizing the promises of political life. At the same time, however, Joel Alden Schlosser shows how these practices' commitment to interrogation keeps philosophy at a distance from the democratic status quo, creating a dissonance with conventional forms of politics that opens space for new forms of participation and critical contestation of extant ones.

1. Introduction: Socrates in democratic times
2. Beyond 'Socratic citizenship': transforming accountability
3. Socrates in drag: love beyond the polis
4. Fearless speech in democracy: radicalizing frank speaking
5. Midwifing Athens: Socratic associations
6. Socrates' atopia revisited
7. Conclusion: what would Socrates do?

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Politics & government [JP], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]