BMCR 2009.08.40: Sharma on Fine, The Oxford Handbook of Plato

Gail Fine (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato.  Oxford/New York:
Oxford University Press, 2008.  Pp. xi, 604.  ISBN 9780195182903.
$150.00.

Reviewed by Ravi Sharma, Clark University ([email protected])
Word count:  1580 words
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The editor of an essay collection on Plato faces challenges that are
not faced, at least not to the same degree, by the editor of a
collection on any other figure of comparable stature.  Since Plato
mainly wrote dialogues, not treatises, there is no neat way to survey
the corpus.  A topical approach runs the risk of ignoring the
interconnection of themes and arguments within a given dialogue, while
a dialogue-by-dialogue approach would be unnecessarily tedious and more
than a little repetitive.  Gail Fine's reasonable policy is to mix
topical essays with studies of selected dialogues. In addition to her
long introduction, the book contains twenty-one newly commissioned
essays: three framing pieces, ten topical studies, six appraisals of
individual dialogues, and two discussions of later reactions to Plato's
thought. Each of the contributions is intended as an "authoritative,
original, and up-to-date discussion" that can be read by "everyone from
advanced undergraduates with little or no background in Plato to
scholars in the field of ancient philosophy" (p. v).

On the whole, the collection succeeds remarkably well in offering fresh
perspectives on a number of themes in Plato's work while avoiding
excessive scholarly wrangling or overly technical discussions of
individual passages.  To be sure, some of the chapters may prove too
arduous for an undergraduate audience, either because they canvass too
many interpretive possibilities without enough detailed exploration of
the principal candidates, or because they cover too much terrain in the
Platonic corpus for students lacking an antecedent familiarity with the
dialogues.  And at the other end of the readership spectrum, scholars
will undoubtedly find many details with which to quibble: the demands
of originality sometimes conflict with the impulse to convey a balanced
sense of the issues, and experts will occasionally note the omission of
an important recent work of scholarship or of a now-neglected classic.
But on the whole, the collection accomplishes what should be its
primary purpose -- turning readers toward Plato with a fresh set of
interpretive perspectives and questions for further exploration.

Professor Fine has helpfully surveyed the contributions in her detailed
introductory essay, so these comments will be limited to some general
reflections on the attractions and limitations of the Handbook as a
survey of Plato's thought.  First, a few observations on the scope of
coverage, which is quite selective.  Most noticeably, there is
relatively little discussion of the "Socratic" dialogues -- the
generally short works in which Socrates plays the questioner on topics
mainly involving the moral virtues.  The reader interested in those
dialogues will find only two essays dedicated to them, while the
volume's bibliography of further reading devotes only three pages (out
of about twenty-six) to their study.  The two essays that are included
address a wealth of issues: Gareth Matthews provides a complex
discussion of "The Epistemology and Metaphysics of Socrates,"
evaluating a number of views on Socratic ignorance, the project of
definition, and the elenchus; and Daniel Devereux thoughtfully treats a
number of topics in "Socratic Ethics and Moral Psychology," focusing
inter alia on the teachability of virtue, the denial of weakness of
will, and the relation between virtue and happiness. Apart from those
contributions, there are several essays that offer extended discussion
of themes prominent in the early dialogues -- for example, Christopher
Bobonich's fine essay on "Plato's Politics."  Nonetheless, the volume
will be of limited use to those approaching the study of Plato through
the "Socratic" dialogues -- including many of those coming primarily
from a background in Greek literature and culture.  Since those
dialogues are the ones that engage many of Plato's newer readers, this
seems an opportunity missed.

As for the rest of the Platonic corpus, the volume's coverage is tilted
heavily to the group of works often regarded as belonging to Plato's
later period.  Apart from the Republic, the dialogues that receive
chapters of their own are the Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Timaeus
and Philebus.  The justification given is that "[t]hese dialogues are
especially rich and complex philosophically; they also pursue
particular topics systematically and in detail."  One might quibble
with both aspects of that claim.  To name just a few of the obvious
candidates, the Cratylus, Phaedo, and Laws are arguably as detailed and
systematic as what is on the list.  And dialogues like the Gorgias,
Protagoras, and Phaedrus are certainly rich enough to merit chapters of
their own. In fact, the combination of literary and philosophical
complexity in the latter works might make them especially suited for
chapters discussing the ways in which our perspective on their
philosophical themes is enriched by an appreciation of the dramatic
form in which those themes are explored.  As Professor Fine is careful
to note in her introduction, the reader can find discussions of all the
above-mentioned works in other chapters of the book.  Yet one cannot
help but think that the selection of dialogues receiving independent
chapters is guided partly by a sense of the relative philosophical
importance of those works.  Be that as it may, the Handbook will surely
be of the greatest value to advanced students and scholars wanting a
broad overview of certain themes followed by a sustained examination of
philosophical issues in the "later" dialogues.

That is not to say that the volume will be of negligible value for
other readers. Questions of scope aside, the quality of the individual
contributions is quite high, reflecting some of the best recent work on
Plato's philosophy.  And the volume contains valuable resources for new
readers of Plato as well as for seasoned students.  Especially
important in this regard are the three framing pieces that open the
collection.  Malcolm Schofield's "Plato in his Time and Place" is a gem
of incisive exposition: in a "series of snapshots" (36) of Plato's
place in the intellectual currents of his day, it offers a concise and
thoughtfully balanced perspective on Plato's influences and
intellectual relationships. (Particularly valuable for the student are
the judicious suggestions for further reading contained in the
footnotes.)  T. H. Irwin's "The Platonic Corpus" is similarly
informative, this time as regards issues relating to the composition,
dissemination and transmission of the dialogues.  Since the essay
covers a lot of ground about which it is difficult for the non-scholar
to learn, it should be required reading for all new readers of Plato's
work.[[1]] Finally, Mary Margaret McCabe's "Plato's Ways of Writing"
offers a nuanced and wide-ranging discussion of the relation between
the argumentative content of the dialogues and their "frames," or
dramatic settings.  McCabe illustrates her view as to the intimate
relation between "picture" and "frame" with examples drawn from
throughout the Platonic corpus.  This makes her essay useful reading
for students interested in all aspects of Plato's thought. Indeed,
McCabe's essay is the only one to address directly the significance of
the dramatic form of the dialogues, and it will therefore be crucial
reading for those inspired by the recent upsurge of interest in the
"literary" aspects of Plato's thought.

Among the ten topical studies that follow, some adhere to the divisions
of contemporary academic philosophy (epistemology, metaphysics,
philosophy of language, ethics) and some track themes that figure
prominently in Plato's thought (the soul, love, education and art).
The studies are predominantly "analytic" in character, reflecting the
focus on argumentative analysis that constitutes the mainstream among
English-speaking scholars.  Several of these studies are less
immediately accessible than the framework chapters, either because they
refer to a wide range of dialogues that they treat in highly selective
fashion, or else because they engage closely with issues whose broader
significance may not be immediately evident to the student. But at
their best, the topical essays offer compelling overviews of their
subjects -- ones that neatly frame the scholarly debates while
encouraging a return to the dialogues with new avenues for exploration.

The six chapters on individual dialogues are of similarly high quality.
In them, one finds a sampling of some of the most thoughtful recent
scholarship on Plato's epistemology, logic and metaphysics.  (These
chapters also offer a useful orientation to the now-overwhelming
secondary literature.)  The inclusion of this material makes the volume
especially attractive as a companion work for a course focusing closely
on themes in Plato's mature thought.  The volume closes with two pieces
dealing with ancient reactions to Plato's theories: Christopher Shields
focuses on Aristotle's confrontation with the theory of Forms, while
Charles Brittain offers an detailed introduction to the later tradition
(c. 100-600 C.E.) of Platonist philosophy.  Both treatments are rich,
though perhaps a little too brief given the complexities of their
subject matter.  But in view of the long shadows that those subsequent
traditions have cast over the interpretation of Plato, there are good
reasons for including a discussion of them in the volume and for
exposing students -- at least graduate students -- to some of their
intricacies.

The book is handsomely produced and is virtually free of typographical
errors. It helpfully prints footnotes to the essays at the bottom of
the page, and it offers an "Index Locorum" and an "Index Nominum" as
well as a general index. The bibliography at the end of the volume is
an updated version of the bibliography in Fine's earlier edited
collection Plato (OUP, 2000).  It is a useful but not a failsafe guide
to the recent literature. One minor criticism: the volume's running
heads would have been much more useful had the left-side (verso)
heading printed the name of a given essay's author, rather than merely
repeat the title of the volume throughout.


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Notes:


1.   Late in his chapter, Irwin defends the "standard" division of the
dialogues into early, middle, and late, and he ends with some
reflections on whether the thought of Plato may be found in the
pronouncements of Socrates.  Much of this material will be
controversial, but Irwin argues forcefully for his conclusions. And he
ends precisely where one should, by recognizing the need, in treating
these issues, for reflection on the philosophical content of the
dialogues.