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  4. Plato's guide to Philosophical Preparedness: the Dangers of Philosophy and How to Handle Them

Plato's guide to Philosophical Preparedness: the Dangers of Philosophy and How to Handle Them

File(s)
Heckel_cornellgrad_0058F_10546.pdf (1.28 MB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://doi.org/10.7298/X43776WD
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/56761
Collections
Cornell Theses and Dissertations
Author
Heckel, Marta
Abstract

Philosophy is dangerous business. At least, this is what Plato tells us. The literature on Plato’s metaphilosophy and methodology, however, has largely ignored this fact. In this dissertation, I show that an overemphasis on a narrow definition of Plato’s understanding of philosophy has meant we have missed an important account of how he proposes we navigate the dangers of rational inquiry. Framed as continuing the Platonic project of successfully and safely converting people to philosophy, this dissertation takes seriously the fact that Plato is wary of philosophy being done badly, and shows that this perspective sheds light not only on methods such as elenchus, but also on Plato’s psychology, epistemology, and metaphysics.

Date Issued
2017-08-30
Keywords
argument
•
metaphilosophy
•
Corruption
•
Education
•
Philosophy
•
methodology
Committee Chair
Brennan, Theodore R.
Committee Member
Kosch, Michelle
Brittain, Charles Francis
Degree Discipline
Philosophy
Degree Name
Ph. D., Philosophy
Degree Level
Doctor of Philosophy
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Type
dissertation or thesis

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