A Wolf in the City: Tyranny and the Tyrant in Plato's RepublicThe problem of tyranny preoccupied Plato, and its discussion both begins and ends his famous Republic. Though philosophers have mined the Republic for millennia, Cinzia Arruzza is the first to devote a full book to the study of tyranny and of the tyrant's soul in Plato's Republic. In A Wolf in the City, Arruzza argues that Plato's critique of tyranny intervenes in an ancient debate concerning the sources of the crisis of Athenian democracy and the relation between political leaders and demos in the last decades of the fifth century BCE. Arruzza shows that Plato's critique of tyranny should not be taken as veiled criticism of the Syracusan tyrannical regime, but rather of Athenian democracy. In parsing Plato's discussion of the soul of the tyrant, Arruzza will also offer new and innovative insights into his moral psychology, addressing much-debated problems such as the nature of eros and of the spirited part of the soul, the unity or disunity of the soul, and the relation between the non-rational parts of the soul and reason. |
Contents
| 1 | |
PART I TYRANNY AND DEMOCRACY | 13 |
PART II THE TYRANTS SOUL | 135 |
References | 259 |
Index Locorum | 271 |
| 281 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Adeimantus Alcibiades ally of reason Ancient appetitive desires argues arguments Aristophanes articulated aspects Assembly Athenian democracy Athenian demos beliefs Book VIII Callicles Cambridge chapter character characterized Charmides citizens claim concerning conflict Critias critique democratic regime depiction dialogue Dionysius Dionysius the Elder Dionysius the Younger discussion enslavement entail eros erotic ethos example excessive fifth century freedom Glaucon Gorgias greed Greek Herodotus honor ical ideal interpretation justice kind lawless laws leader lion lover McGlew metaphor moral corruption Moreover motivated nonrational normative notion oligarchic passage Peisistratus Periander Pericles philosophical natures Plato's Republic Plato’s tyrant played pleasures political power Raaflaub rational reading reference refutation relationship role rule sexual shame Sicilian expedition Socrates Spartan specific spirit suggests Theramenes Thrasymachus Thuc Thucydides tion tropes tYrAnnICAl mAn’s APPetItes tYrAnnY And demoCrACY tYrAnnY In AtHens tYrAnnY oF eros tyrant tYrAnt’s soul University Press Vegetti violence wealth wolf Xenophon πλεονεξία