Unearthing Platonism

Unearthing Platonism explores various aspects of Platonism, the dominant philosophical tradition in the west until the nineteenth century. Contemporary Plato scholarship, however, rejects a distinct philosophical position properly called "Platonism." The very idea that Plato has a philosophical "system" is mostly held to be anathema within the English-speaking academic world, but prevailed among self-declared Platonists for nearly 800 years. Lloyd P. Gerson challenges this view as he "unearths" Platonism in both historical and theoretical essays. Historical essays explore Plato's engagement with the history of philosophy as he knew it and also how his most prominent disciples understood the architecture of the Platonic system as well as the dynamic principles according to which it operates. Theoretical essays focus on the Idea of the Good, what Plato calls "the unhypothetical first principle of all," the world of Forms and the eternal Intellect contemplating them, the soul, and the human person. Unearthing Platonism shows that underlying Plato's dialogues there is a philosophical system. Recognizing this system enables us to resolve many interpretative issues that repeatedly turn up in contemporary scholarship.