Books by Alex Priou
A holistic, dramatic interpretation of Plato's trilogy on philosophy and science, the Theaetetus,... more A holistic, dramatic interpretation of Plato's trilogy on philosophy and science, the Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman.
A guide to understanding love, and the love of understanding.
In Musings on Plato's Symposium, A... more A guide to understanding love, and the love of understanding.
In Musings on Plato's Symposium, Alex Priou offers a holistic interpretation of Plato's seminal work on love. An insightful commentary presented in short, aphoristic sections, the book is both a way into the depths of the dialogue for serious students, and a philosophical challenge for experts. Inspired by Plato's own mixture of the playful, prankish, flirtatious, outrageous, and beyond, the book is incisive and innovative in style and substance alike, and it rewards those who wish to approach the mysteries of Plato's Symposium and its ultimate subject: the meaning of love in its many forms.
Interpreters of Plato’s Parmenides have long agreed that it is a canonical work in the history of... more Interpreters of Plato’s Parmenides have long agreed that it is a canonical work in the history of ontology. In the first part, the aged Parmenides presents a devastating critique of Platonic ontology, followed in the second by what purports to be a response to that critique. But despite the scholarly agreement as to the general subject matter of the dialogue, what makes it one whole has nevertheless eluded its readers, so much so that some have even speculated it to be a patchwork of two dimly related dialogues.
In Becoming Socrates, Alex Priou shows that the Parmenides’ unity remains elusive due to scholarly neglect of a particular passage in Parmenides’ critique—a passage Parmenides identifies as the hinge between the dialogue’s two parts and as the “greatest impasse” facing Platonic ontology. There Parmenides situates the concern with ontology or the question of being within the concern with political philosophy or the question of good rule. In this way, the Parmenides shows us how a youthful Socrates first learned of the centrality of political philosophy that would become the hallmark of his life—that it, and not ontology, is “first philosophy.”
Macon, Georgia-"Defending Socrates, Alex Priou's study of Plato's trilogy achieves an all-too-rar... more Macon, Georgia-"Defending Socrates, Alex Priou's study of Plato's trilogy achieves an all-too-rare combination of concision and depth," says Paul Stern, professor of Politics at Ursinus College. "Clearly the product of sustained and fruitful reflection on these dialogues, the work is informed by Priou's similarly illuminating treatment of the Parmenides in his previous book and by his mastery of the Greek. Priou frames the trilogy as Socrates's examination of science. As Priou convincingly argues, the Socratic perspective lets us see how modern science's reluctance to address the question of happiness has impoverished our selfunderstanding and made the recurrence to this ancient wisdom all the more urgent and necessary. Not only for students of Plato but for anyone who wishes to understand better the ground on which we stand, Defending Socrates is a book not to be missed." The modern world began with a critique of ancient philosophy as unscientific and in a decisive attempt to progress beyond it. Over time, however, the promises of the early modern philosophers have become increasingly suspect, while the ancients have come to enjoy greater appeal. Defending Socrates articulates Plato's implicit response to the early modern attack through a holistic interpretation of Plato's trilogy of dialogues on the question of knowledge-Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman. In Theaetetus, Socrates attempts to define knowledge with two mathematicians, the young Theaetetus and his teacher Theodorus, but ultimately fails. This failure leads Theodorus, on the following day, to bring along a stranger from the city of Elea to correct Socrates's manner of philosophizing. The Eleatic stranger presents us with a scientific alternative to Socrates in Sophist and Statesman. By the end of these dialogues, however, it becomes clear that the obstacles and inconsistencies confronting the stranger's alternative are insurmountable. Socratic philosophy turns out to be the only tenable mode. Plato thus directs us back to Theaetetus, which took place the day before but was written afterwards, that is, in full awareness of the stranger's alternative. There we find a defense of the unscientific aspects of Socratic philosophy that might provide us guidance amid the broken promises of modernity. "Alex Priou traces modernity's descent into nihilism to its rejection of Socratic philosophizing as unscientific in form and content, and in particular to its assumption that the truth must be sought in abstraction from the good," says Jacob Howland, author of Glaucon's Fate: History, Myth, and Character in Plato's Republic. "Defending Socrates persuasively reads Plato's trilogy Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman as a comprehensive response, avant la lettre, to the grave philosophical and political errors of Socrates' modern critics. Priou's discussions of apparitions and semblances in the Sophist, and of the necessarily stochastic and sophistical nature of statesmanship, are particularly illuminating. Serious students of Plato will want to read, and reread, this fine book.
Reviews of "Musings on Plato's Symposium" by Alex Priou
Alex Priou's "musings" on Plato's Symposium are a delight to read. His commentary, genuinely enga... more Alex Priou's "musings" on Plato's Symposium are a delight to read. His commentary, genuinely engaging, moves with an energy o en lacking in scholarly texts, which makes sense given Priou's e ort to attempt something di erent. e book, he tells us, is decidedly not for the "community of the learned"; it is, rather, for those readers for whom love has become "a deep, personal problem" (1). By breaking apart his views on the dialogue into a series of short, well-arranged re ections, Priou's stylistic choices work e ectively to bring Plato to life for his nonacademic audience.
Reviews of "Defending Socrates" by Alex Priou
Alex Priou's book makes valuable contributions to two important conversations: one about the rema... more Alex Priou's book makes valuable contributions to two important conversations: one about the remarkably missing although promised Platonic dialogue Philosopher, and another about the potential Socratic response to modern scientism. The second of these is the inspiration for the title of the book and the project as a whole. Priou describes two modern charges that have been leveled against the Platonic Socrates-that he is, first, unscientific in his method, and second, unscientific in his subject matter (3-4). According to these charges, Socrates begins from ordinary opinion and relies too heavily on the evidence of the senses, coupled with an "inductive reasoning that is at best sloppy and at worst sophistic" (4). Moreover, Socrates seems to be unduly concerned with the good, just, or the beautiful and such notions are "not subject to scientific demonstration" (4). Priou claims that these modern accusers avoid such unfruitful inquiries and instead opt for thinking about human beings as machines. As Priou points out, exemplars of this reductionist thinking include the works of Bacon and Descartes. The question emerges: Where can we see in the Platonic corpus a Socratic response to such charges? Priou turns to the trilogy Theaetetus/Sophist/Statesman and proposes an innovative and insightful reading of the dialogues. In doing so, he attempts to answer the charges while also make sense of the argument and action of the trilogy and the omission of the fourth dialogue, Philosopher. Priou suggests that the trilogy seems to condemn Socrates for his inability to define knowledge. But he responds that the texts invite such a reading only at first, as an identification with the mathematically minded Theodorus and Theaetetus. Such a reading leads naturally to the ensuing discussions in the Sophist/Statesman. But it is here that Priou, following the work of Cropsey, suggests a different approach. On completing the Statesman, the reader must return to the Theaetetus as a response to the later dialogues. Priou admits that such a procedure may sounds strange but points out that Plato presents the conversation between Socrates and Theaetetus through the later recording of Euclides. The composition of the text, dramatically, is then actually after the two later dialogues. There is not only Socrates the character in the conversation with Theaetetus but also Socrates the composer or author of the 1
Perspectives on Political Science
Reviews of "Becoming Socrates" by Alex Priou
Mary Townsend, Review of "Becoming Socrates"
Review of Politics
Published Articles and Chapters by Alex Priou
Philosophy and Literature, 2024
Brief reflections on Hesiod and John Berryman, Sonnet 43.
An analysis of Socrates' two allusions to Homer's Odyssey at the beginning of Plato's Sophist, an... more An analysis of Socrates' two allusions to Homer's Odyssey at the beginning of Plato's Sophist, and how they inform the Eleatic Stranger's critique of Parmenides, followed by reflections on Parmenides' own allusions to Homer.
But the course apparently also caused a stir among Strauss's students, who immediately sought his... more But the course apparently also caused a stir among Strauss's students, who immediately sought his permission to prepare a transcript for publication. Strauss was, according to the transcript's editor, Seth Benardete, somewhat ambivalent about its publication but did eventually consent. 2 Only many decades later, in 2001, did a reliable and polished version of the manuscript, not without its lacunae, finally make its way into print. Its publication was something of an event, certainly among those who, like myself at the time, had heard of the transcripts of Strauss's courses yet had no access to them. For, until their online publication at the Leo Strauss Center's website, they were shared only privately, save for when copies would become available through online booksellers. The publication of the course thus offered many at the time, myself included, a rare glimpse into Strauss's teaching, even his thinking. Such was the impression, at least. For even a quick comparison of his other courses with the publications that emerged from them suffices to show that his remarks in class should never be taken as indicative of his final view, to say nothing of the necessary discrepancies between the presentation of his thought in public-whether provisional or final, in the classroom or in print-and that thought as Strauss understood it himself, in private. Yet the case of the transcript on Plato's Symposium is a special one, in that Strauss did make some rather definite claims in his private correspondence with Benardete and even composed a sketch that, together with these letters, offers us a hazy glimpse or an intriguing fragment of what
Research Handbook on the History of Political Thought
Why did Plato take the ridiculous Hippias seriously? An account of Hippias in the Hippias Major ... more Why did Plato take the ridiculous Hippias seriously? An account of Hippias in the Hippias Major and Hippias Minor, through the lens of Republic 2–3.
Some brief remarks on the plan of Zeus in the epic tradition and the law of Zeus in Hesiod's Work... more Some brief remarks on the plan of Zeus in the epic tradition and the law of Zeus in Hesiod's Works and Days. Also, I pity the octopus.
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Books by Alex Priou
In Musings on Plato's Symposium, Alex Priou offers a holistic interpretation of Plato's seminal work on love. An insightful commentary presented in short, aphoristic sections, the book is both a way into the depths of the dialogue for serious students, and a philosophical challenge for experts. Inspired by Plato's own mixture of the playful, prankish, flirtatious, outrageous, and beyond, the book is incisive and innovative in style and substance alike, and it rewards those who wish to approach the mysteries of Plato's Symposium and its ultimate subject: the meaning of love in its many forms.
In Becoming Socrates, Alex Priou shows that the Parmenides’ unity remains elusive due to scholarly neglect of a particular passage in Parmenides’ critique—a passage Parmenides identifies as the hinge between the dialogue’s two parts and as the “greatest impasse” facing Platonic ontology. There Parmenides situates the concern with ontology or the question of being within the concern with political philosophy or the question of good rule. In this way, the Parmenides shows us how a youthful Socrates first learned of the centrality of political philosophy that would become the hallmark of his life—that it, and not ontology, is “first philosophy.”
Reviews of "Musings on Plato's Symposium" by Alex Priou
Reviews of "Defending Socrates" by Alex Priou
Reviews of "Becoming Socrates" by Alex Priou
Published Articles and Chapters by Alex Priou
In Musings on Plato's Symposium, Alex Priou offers a holistic interpretation of Plato's seminal work on love. An insightful commentary presented in short, aphoristic sections, the book is both a way into the depths of the dialogue for serious students, and a philosophical challenge for experts. Inspired by Plato's own mixture of the playful, prankish, flirtatious, outrageous, and beyond, the book is incisive and innovative in style and substance alike, and it rewards those who wish to approach the mysteries of Plato's Symposium and its ultimate subject: the meaning of love in its many forms.
In Becoming Socrates, Alex Priou shows that the Parmenides’ unity remains elusive due to scholarly neglect of a particular passage in Parmenides’ critique—a passage Parmenides identifies as the hinge between the dialogue’s two parts and as the “greatest impasse” facing Platonic ontology. There Parmenides situates the concern with ontology or the question of being within the concern with political philosophy or the question of good rule. In this way, the Parmenides shows us how a youthful Socrates first learned of the centrality of political philosophy that would become the hallmark of his life—that it, and not ontology, is “first philosophy.”
This essay is part of Public Discourse's Who's Who series, which introduces and critically engages with important thinkers who are often referenced in political and cultural debates, but whose ideas might not be widely known or understood.