In the Republic, Socrates seeks to convince Plato\u2019s brother Glaucon that the just life of philosophy is preferable to the unjust life of tyranny. Jacob Howland\u2019s Glaucon\u2019s Fate argues that he fails. The available evidence suggests that Glaucon joined his cousin Critias and his uncle Charmides in the regime of the so-called Thirty Tyrants, the brutal oligarchy that governed Athens in the immediate aftermath of the Peloponnesian War. If Howland is right, Plato\u2019s intelligent and courageous brother\u2014suspended as he was between the corruption of Athenian politics and the integrity of Socratic inquiry, between kinsmen who were leaders of the Thirty and a just friend who fell afoul of them\u2014could not be saved even by the age\u2019s most capable advocate of virtue and philosophy.<\/p>\n
What went wrong? Howland\u2019s exploration of this guiding question focuses on Socrates\u2019 rivalry with Critias, with whom he competes for the attention of ambitious young aristocrats. The contrast between these two men is stark. Socrates offers young souls an escape through philosophy from the Cave of the city; Critias offers them a path to rule. Socrates\u2019 erotic path is reliant on the knowledge of one\u2019s ignorance and neediness; Critias\u2019s thumotic one is rooted in the presumption of an abstract and impersonal perfection. Socrates seeks truth; Critias supposes he already possesses it. Yet in the Republic, Socrates professes admiration for Callipolis, a totalitarian regime strikingly similar to the one implemented in Athens by the Thirty. Why would he do so? What responsibility does he have for Glaucon\u2019s fate? What was he hoping to achieve when he accompanied Glaucon to the Piraeus, and what does he accomplish in the Republic? In approaching these questions, Glaucon\u2019s Fate examines the historical and literary context of the Republic\u2014including Critias\u2019s thought as presented in his own writings and in Plato\u2019s Timaeus-Critias and Charmides\u2014and explores the relationship between myth, character, action, and argument in the dialogue itself.<\/p>\n
Glaucon\u2019s Fate will be published by Paul Dry Books in November of 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"