Inventing the Philosopher: An Essay on the Dialogues of Plato

In this penetrating and graceful analysis, Monique Dixsaut reveals that the project of Plato's dialogues is to "invent the philosopher" in a sense the term never again had. The dialogues show, by dramatic and dialectical instantiation, that a person seeking truth engenders a coherent system intended to determine what is. Since one cannot judge a path until he has taken it to the end, this "science of free men" comes upon truth and acquires intelligence; the ideas develop from a thinking that desires to think in a different way, without asking whether this is possible. One who thinks in this way does not have to become a philosopher. He is one, and can only know what that means because he already is one. For him, intelligence supersedes logic, desire is more compelling than duty, pleasure signals hierarchy more strongly than values, and the fact of finding, seeing, and becoming more inventive guarantees truth more surely than conforming to method. Dixsaut's treatment is fundamental, yet unique. For those who love the dialogues of Plato, this book will help them understand why in a profound new sense.