Friendship and politics: a dramatical reading of Plato's Phaedrus

Hannaford, Keith (2007) Friendship and politics: a dramatical reading of Plato's Phaedrus. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Through a thorough examination of Plato's writing, particularly of its dramatic features, I aim to demonstrate that the Phaedrus exhibits a decidedly political dimension. Moreover, the political content of the dialogue is not explicated but enacted in the shared friendship of Socrates and Phaedrus. Socrates' concern for his friend compels him to accompany Phaedrus outside the city, from which he has symbolically been alienated in virtue of his enthusiasm for rhetoric. The two friends find themselves vulnerable when outside the city and come to identify the need they each have for one another if they are safely to return. The first half of the dialogue features Socrates' ironic mimicking of Phaedrus in order to bring him to self-knowledge. The second half, conversely, reveals the extent to which Socrates himself lacks self-knowledge. Through an attuned dramatical reading, the Phaedrus reveals that friendship and politics share an essential connection.

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