Plato : A Civic Life

Plato is a key figure from the beginnings of Western philosophy, yet the impact of his lived experience on his thought has rarely been explored. Plato lived in turbulent times, born during a war that led to Athens’s defeat and decline. A restored democracy enabled the execution of his teacher Socrates.

Carol Atack explores how his life in Athens influenced Plato’s thinking, how he developed the Socratic dialogue into a powerful philosophical tool and how he used the institutions of Athenian society to create a compelling imaginative world. Now available in paperback, this accessibly written book shows how Plato made Athens the place where diverse ideas were integrated into a new way of approaching big questions about existence and the societies we create, then and now.

MEDIA REVIEWS

"In Plato: A Civic Life we journey through the philosopher’s life – and, from the third chapter onwards, through his writings – learning as much about Athenian democracy, international relations, education and culture as we do about Plato himself . . . Anyone who finds raw Plato indigestible will welcome these accessible explanations of his work . . . Twenty-five years on from my last ancient philosophy exam, I am surprised to discover that I want to open his works again, thanks to this humanizing and carefully contextualized biography." - Alice König, Times Literary Supplement"Carol Atack’s study of Plato achieves more in 240 pages than many other writers manage in biographies three times the length . . . A gem for anyone interested in this ancient Greek philosopher and the world he inhabited. Approachable, enlightening, informative." - Bookmunch"Atack excels, contextualizing the dialogues smoothly and authoritatively, with neither the gatekeeping condescension of the expert nor the oversimplifying condescension of the pedagogue . . . As a primer to the man, his works, and his time, the general-interest reader could scarcely ask for something better." - Open Letters Review"A richly enjoyable and illuminating account of Plato's life and its social and political contexts. Atack handles the wealth of scholarship with a deft touch: she provides considered support for her interpretations but never obscures the main, vivid narrative, into which she skilfully weaves a number of Plato's key ideas and arguments." - Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield"Philosophy is just the beginning in Carol Atack's page-turner. From Plato’s own travels and troubles to the strange life and peculiar death of his teacher Socrates, the struggles of his city at the hands of enemies at home and abroad to the efforts of its citizens to make sense of things in an era of unending crisis, this is a gripping account of Classical Athens under siege told through the sharp eyes and shifting ideas of its most notable son." - Josephine Quinn, Professor of Ancient History, University of Oxford and author of How the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History