What do you think?
Rate this book
Why Plato Wrote
"Why Plato Wrote" argues that Plato was not only the world's first systematic political philosopher, but also the western world's first think-tank activist and message man. Shows that Plato wrote to change Athenian society and thereby transform Athenian politics Offers accessible discussions of Plato's philosophy of language and political theory Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2011
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
232 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2010
About the author
Danielle S. Allen
18 books127 followersDanielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, is a political theorist who has published broadly in democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought. Widely known for her work on justice and citizenship in both ancient Athens and modern America, Allen is the author of The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000), Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown vs. the Board of Education (2004), Why Plato Wrote (2010), Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (2014), Education and Equality (2016), and Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. (2017). She is the co-editor of the award-winning Education, Justice, and Democracy (2013, with Rob Reich) and From Voice to Influence: Understanding Citizenship in the Digital Age (2015, with Jennifer Light). She is a former Chair of the Mellon Foundation Board, past Chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
Dr. Allen received her undergraduate education in Classics at Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude. She was awarded an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Classics from Cambridge University and went on to Harvard University, where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. in political science. She joined the faculty at the University of Chicago in 1997 as Assistant Professor of Classics. In 2000, Dr. Allen became Associate Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures, Political Science and the Committee on Social Thought. In 2003, she was promoted to Professor. The following year she was named Dean of the Division of Humanities, a role she was in until 2007.
Widely known for her work on justice and citizenship in ancient Athens and its application to modern America, Dr. Allen was awarded in 2002 a MacArthur Fellowship for her ability to combine "the classicist's careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist's sophisticated and informed engagement."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2021
Overly academic, jargon filled, unfocused, and ultimately never answers the title’s implied question
December 12, 2021
The problem discussed in Danielle Allen's book is that Socrates explicitly says in Phaedrus that dialectic, i.e. inquiring discussion, is the road to knowledge, and that writers, such as Homer, cannot do this work. And yet Plato, Socrates's admirer, chose to write philosophy. Why?
Allen proposes that Plato realized he needed to reach more people to effect the political changes he wanted. This could only be done by writing, and writing effectively, through crafting concepts, images and messages that were pragmatically efficient at transmitting the underlying ideas. Plato's excuse for using writing in spite of Socrates stance is basically that writing is a form of the noble lie, a statement that is not true, but still gets the job done. Plato was the western world's first message man, giving the politicians after him ready-made sound-bites.
I find Allen's approach intriguing, although a bit thin as regards the evidence for some hypotheses. The sources are few; much that surely would have been relevant has been lost in the mists of time. Allen makes good use of what there is.
It is somewhat interesting that Allen dismisses Popper's analysis of Plato as a totalitarian in a single sentence. I would like to ask Allen in what way her analysis conflicts with that of Popper. In my view, they are wholly compatible.
Allen proposes that Plato realized he needed to reach more people to effect the political changes he wanted. This could only be done by writing, and writing effectively, through crafting concepts, images and messages that were pragmatically efficient at transmitting the underlying ideas. Plato's excuse for using writing in spite of Socrates stance is basically that writing is a form of the noble lie, a statement that is not true, but still gets the job done. Plato was the western world's first message man, giving the politicians after him ready-made sound-bites.
I find Allen's approach intriguing, although a bit thin as regards the evidence for some hypotheses. The sources are few; much that surely would have been relevant has been lost in the mists of time. Allen makes good use of what there is.
It is somewhat interesting that Allen dismisses Popper's analysis of Plato as a totalitarian in a single sentence. I would like to ask Allen in what way her analysis conflicts with that of Popper. In my view, they are wholly compatible.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews