Socrates II

Socrates is perhaps the most famous philosopher in the Western intellectual tradition. He raised fundamental questions, such as ‘what is justice?’ and ‘does virtue produce happiness?’. Although he wrote nothing himself, he is the source of a vast literature, beginning with Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle, and continuing to the present day.

In the two decades since the first Routledge Critical Assessments collection on Socrates was prepared for publication (Socrates (1996) (978-0-415-10968-0)), scholarly work has blossomed anew, not least in response to Gregory Vlastos’s Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher and Charles Kahn’s Plato and the Socratic Dialogue. This new Routledge anthology, compiled by the editor of the first collection, takes full account of the many important developments that have taken place since the mid-1990s. Socrates II assembles in one easy-to-use resource the major works produced by established and rising scholars in this period on the topics covered in the original collection. It also gathers the very best material on additional themes, including:

• the possibility of Socratic Studies;
• Socratic irony;
• Socratic metaphysics;
• Socratic moral psychology; and
• Socrates on love.

With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Socrates II is an indispensable work of reference. It will interest not only scholars in the History of Philosophy, but also those working in Law, Political Science, and the History of Greek Religion.

Willaim Prior is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Santa Clara University, California, USA