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Dr. Andrew Wood
Office: HGH 210; phone: (408) 924-5378
Andrew.Wood@sjsu.edu


Rhetoric of Just Hierarchy


Athens Agora

"Unless the philosophers rule as kings or those now called kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately philosophize, and political power and philosophy coincide in the same place . . . there is no rest from ills for the cities . . . nor I think for human kind, nor will the regime we have now described in speech ever come forth from nature, insofar as possible, and see the light of the sun."

- Socrates in Plato's Republic


Overview

We delve into classical rhetoric, focusing on Plato's Republic. Plato's response to the collapse of civic life in his era introduces us to the dialectical tension between utopia and dystopia. This tension emerges when The Republic architecturally and rhetorically separates "others" (including most women) from the public sphere.

Summary


Andrew Wood's summary of Plato's Republic [Book Five]

Dr. Wood's Additional Resources

Speaking Philosophy [Notes on Simon Critchley's essay]

Yo, Socrates
[summary of Plato's Apology]

Image Credit


Giro P. Chastnaja (1915) from Ancient Rome [Russian website]