8.0181 Rs: Home History Library; Plato (2) (3/67)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 12 Sep 1994 18:19:32 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 8, No. 0181. Monday, 12 Sep 1994.
(1) Date: Sun, 11 Sep 94 20:05:06 CST (10 lines)
From: "Jim Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Home History Library on CD-ROM
(2) Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 07:27:23 CST (20 lines)
From: "Jim Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Plato's Seventh Letter
(3) Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 10:07:20 EDT (37 lines)
From: "David A. Hoekema" <DHOEKEMA@legacy.Calvin.EDU>
Subject: Reply: Plato letter
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 94 20:05:06 CST
From: "Jim Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Home History Library on CD-ROM
The Bureau of Electronic Publishing is a reputable organization, and I have
dealt with them many times. Whether you like the products listed depends on
you. For me, I find Great Literature very useful. It contains probably
more pieces of literature than any of the other "Books" "Literature" etc. on
CD-ROM. De gustibus ...
Jim Marchand.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------33----
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 07:27:23 CST
From: "Jim Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Plato's Seventh Letter
Plato's Seventh Letter, the stuff scholarly romances are made of. It was one
of the first works athetized by use of computer stylistics, by the doughty A.
Q. Morgan. The authenticity of it (and other of Plato's letters) has been
challenged many times. A running bibliography of items on it can be found in
Richard D. McKirahan, Jr., Plato and Socrates. A Comprehensive Bibliography,
1958-1973 (NY: Garland, 1978), 182-185 and (better) in Wilhelm Totok,
Handbuch der Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. 1 (Altertum) (Frankfurt:
Vittorio Klostermann, 1964), 209-210. If you are looking for the original,
most editions of the Letters will contain the seventh, e. g.: Lettere, A cura
di A. Maddalena (Bari, 1948). If you are looking for a translation, you can
find them into many different languages. A convenient English version is
Epistles, transl. with crit essays and notes by G. R. Morrow. Library of
Liberal Arts, 122 (Indianapolis, 1962). The Reclam library puts out an
inexpensive German version. There is even a concordance to the Letters,
produced back in the days when computer stylistics was in flower. !
Jim Marchand.
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------53----
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 10:07:20 EDT
From: "David A. Hoekema" <DHOEKEMA@legacy.Calvin.EDU>
Subject: Reply: Plato letter
> From: franchet%ccvax.hepnet@Csa4.LBL.Gov (PAULO FRANCHETTI)
> Subject: Plato's 7th letter.
>
> Does anyone know in which volume could I find a text I
> saw referred as "the seventh letter" of Plato?
> Thank you.
The "Seventh Letter" of Plato can be found in the Hamilton and Cairns
_Collected Dialogues_ (Princeton Press, Bollingen Series), and I
presume in other collected editions, though my edition of Jowett's
translations contains none of the letters. When I have wanted to use
it in classes not wholly devoted to Plato (and not being a Platonic
specialist, my colleagues have known better than to assign me such a
course), I have ordered the Hamilton translation of the _Phaedrus_
and Letters VII and VIII in the Penguin Classics series.
>From my nonspecialist vantage point, it seems to me that the Seventh
Letter, once regarded as spurious, is now accepted by most scholars
as genuine; most of the other letters, I think, are still under a
rather heavy cloud. The seventh is very interesting philosophically:
Sheldon Wolin and some others make a great deal of Plato's response
there to the repeated failure of his attempts to put sound philosophy
of the _polis_ into practice through his pupil and purported protege
Dion. It is possible to use the letter as a link between the
_Republic_ and the _Laws_, particularly in light of the discussion in
the _Laws_ itself to the effect that government by the best
individuals is a regrettable compromise with human nature, which
cannot achieve the ideal of government by the best state.
|| David Hoekema, Academic Dean, Calvin College (Grand Rapids MI 49546) ||
|| tel. 616 957-6442 || fax 616 957-8551 || <dhoekema@calvin.edu> ||