WHY PLATO MATTERS NOW

Beyond the cave.

Plato has mattered to Western culture for 2,500 years. Most undergraduates encounter him through the dialogues about the death of Socrates, his banishment of the poets from his ideal republic, and his theories of human knowledge spun out of the famous allegory of the cave. This book by British scholar Hobbs rescues Plato from the ossified familiarities of Western Civ to argue that his relevance, today, lies in an understanding of political power, human heroism, and the value of love and friendship. She writes about the external, public Plato—not the philosopher of mind or the theorist of the Forms, but the adviser to rulers and the founder of a form of education. Dialogue is central to Platonic argument. History is central to the present. Plato’s Socrates is, as we all know, a literary persona—and yet there is a personality on Plato’s pages that makes the voice of the old man (who famously distrusted writing) echo today. This book is frank about the loves of the Platonic world. Men loved other men. Desire lies at the heart of public service and heroic action. Learning to be a lover and a friend forms us into fully realized social beings. Perhaps the most vivid of the book’s claims for contemporary relevance is this: “One of the main ways in which Plato still matters, then, stems from his profound reflections on the concept of heroism and the associated notions of honour, glory and fame….The notion of a hero, and the longing for glory, can still have real potency and value: properly formed and guided, these concepts can enlarge our moral ambition and offer us a vision of what the best version of ourselves might be.” Read Plato, then, not just to think, but to live.

A fresh, frank reassessment of Plato as a guide to living our best public lives.