PHIL 910 Plato's Sophist and Statesman
This course provides a detailed examination of two Platonic dialogues that
have been written as a sequence, the Sophist and the Statesman. There is an organic continuity between the themes addressed in the two texts and the methods of dialectical investigation employed and analyzed in them. Our discussion will focus on: the nature of sophistry and of statesmanship, the possibility of falsehood, the ontological status of images, the dialectical
method of collection and division, the relation between this method and the cosmic myth of reverse cycles, the interparticipation of Forms, the role of due measure in every craft, the complex relationships among philosophy, sophistry, and statesmanship. Exploration of these themes will involve consideration of some of the most challenging areas of Plato's late metaphysics, ethics, and epistemology. A holistic approach will guide our discussion throughout.