Review: Ariel Helfer's Socrates and Alcibiades

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

4-19-2018

Publication Title

Review of Politics

Volume

80

Issue

2

First page number:

378

Last page number:

380

Abstract

After Socrates, the most prominent figure in Plato's dialogues is the intensely ambitious and politically notorious Alcibiades. In ancient Athens, it was rumored that Socrates corrupted Alcibiades, and this suspicion may have contributed to Socrates's conviction. Socrates's apparent failure to educate the problematic Alcibiades raises questions about the purposes and effectiveness of Socratic education. Nonetheless, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to Plato's dialogues about Socrates's interaction with Alcibiades. Ariel Helfer's Socrates and Alcibiades: Plato's Drama of Political Ambition and Philosophy offers an exceptionally valuable analysis of Socrates's evolving relationship with Alcibiades in the First Alcibiades, the Second Alcibiades, and the Symposium.

Language

eng

UNLV article access

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