Who Is Phaedrus?

Synopsis: Who Is Phaedrus? This book delivers answers. Many have said Phaedrus is the most intriguing of Plato's works. Phaedrus is certainly one of the most difficult to follow and fathom. In part this is because the title figure, Phaedrus himself, has remained a mystery. Who Is Phaedrus? takes us on a tour of this intricate dialogue: a work of philosophy and history, and a work of art. In Who Is Phaedrus? we see how and why Phaedrus became involved in the most sensational scandals, both religious and political, in ancient Athens; and yet we see Phaedrus come across as a person remarkably contemporary, someone who could walk through a time seam and be wholly understandable as a soul in the twenty-first century. Perplexed as well as perplexing, Phaedrus, in the final analysis, needs Socrates' timeless philosophy as a salve and therapy, and we follow along as Socrates delivers. Endorsements: "This book carefully attends to the many different historical, dialogical, and philosophical issues at play in and around Plato's Phaedrus in order to better understand its dyadic and triadic structures. . . . This book will likely be of interest to anyone engaged in serious study of this wonderful and complex Platonic text." --S. Montgomery Ewegen, Stonehill College "Just when one thinks nothing more can be added to the rich literature on Plato's Phaedrus, along comes this book by Marshell Bradley. This is an exceptionally thorough and brilliant analysis of the historical and philosophical figure Phaedrus. Meticulous historical research and textual analyses, combined with an extremely rich depiction of the Greek political context, all work to give us an original, new reading of a familiar Platonic figure." --Peg Birmingham, DePaul University "Many scholars have remarked on the dyadic structure of Plato's Phaedrus. Drawing on a great wealth of extra-textual sources to illuminate subtle details in the dialogue, Marshall cleverly argues that the dual form, which requires simplification, is not just a structure, but a central theme." --D. C. Schindler, Villanova University Author Biography: Marshell Carl Bradley has a PhD in Philosophy from Duquesne University and studied classical Greek at the University of Texas, Austin. He is former Associate Lecturer of Philosophy at the Technische Universität, Braunschweig, and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Sam Houston State University. He is currently Lecturer in Humanities/Philosophy at Blinn College. He is the author of Matthew: Poet, Historian, Dialectician; The Brothers Booth; and numerous articles.