Platonic Conversations

A surprising fact—but one widely known among those who specialize in ancient philosophy—is that the interest and sophistication of ancient philosophical texts reliably increases in proportion to our ability to approach them with worthwhile questions and to notice details that others have overlooked. In this collection of fifteen essays, all previously published or forthcoming elsewhere, M. M. McCabe concentrates on the conversational aspect of classical Greek philosophy, most notably in the Platonic dialogues, and shows that detailed study of it brings a rich reward in terms of hidden paradoxes and responses to them, reflections on philosophical method, and a tradition of considering alternative readings itself going back to antiquity. The collection ranges a little more widely than the title suggests: three essays address the pre-Socratic period, three are concerned with Aristotle, and one is, in part, an examination of a debate among the Stoics....