How Socrates Became Socrates - by Laurence Lampert (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Laurence Lampert is well-known for philosophical studies on Nietzsche, Plato, and Leo Strauss. His work is animated by the notion that Nietzsche is the key figure in Strauss's thought and that Strauss is a Nietzschean in disguise. In How Socrates Became Socrates, Lampert brings his work on Nietzsche into conversation with his work on Plato, showing how the "mature" Socrates is himself a Nietzschean avant la lettre, and that this is how Strauss understands him, bringing to completion a decades-long philosophical project in thrilling fashion"--

Book Synopsis

Plato dispersed his account of how Socrates became Socrates across three dialogues. Thus, Plato rendered his becoming discoverable only to readers truly invested. In How Socrates Became Socrates, Laurence Lampert recognizes the path of Plato's strides and guides us through the true account of Socrates' becoming. He divulges how and why Plato ordered his Phaedo, Parmenides, and Symposium chronologically to give readers access to Socrates' development on philosophy's fundamental questions of being and knowing.

In addition to a careful and precise analysis of Plato's Phaedo, Parmenides, and Symposium, Lampert shows that properly entwined, Plato's three dialogues fuse to portray a young thinker entering philosophy's true radical power. Lampert reveals why this radicality needed to be guarded and places this discussion within the greater scheme of the politics of philosophy.

Review Quotes

"Fascinating to read and intriguing to ponder, Lampert's book will spark renewed debate about European philosophy's first global celebrity."-- "Choice"

"A breath of fresh air."-- "The Review of Politics"

About the Author

Laurence Lampert is professor emeritus of philosophy from Indiana University--Purdue University Indianapolis. He has published several books including Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, How Philosophy Became Socratic: A Study of Plato's "Protagoras," "Charmides," and "Republic, "The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss, and What a Philosopher Is: Becoming Nietzsche, all with the University of Chicago Press.