On Mimetic Style in Plato's<i>Republic</i>

Philosophy & Rhetoric Mar 2012

On Mimetic Style in Plato's<i>Republic</i>

Russell Winslow St. John's College of Nursing

Abstract

AbstractIn this article the author offers a reading of mimetic style (lexis) as it is presented in book 3 of Plato's Republic with the aim of disclosing the importance of style in the acquisition and employment of knowledge—whether scientific or ethical. In fact, the author argues that a careful reading of Socrates' words in the text occasions the idea that reflection on the way that we imitate our inherited content—the ethos, the comportment, in which we exhibit that content—makes visible a potential to appropriate received content and imitated knowledge in original and wakeful ways. In consequence, the author argues that it might be style, not content, that harbors the capacity for us to take a genuine, critical responsibility for our inherited concepts.

Journal: Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published: 2012-03-01
DOI: 10.5325/philrhet.45.1.0046
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multilingual writers voice and style argument

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 4 works outside this index ↓

Aristotle. 2002. Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. Joe Sachs. Newburyport, MA: Focus Press.

↗
Blondell, Ruby. 2002. The Play of Character in Plato's Dialogues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

↗
Kahn, Charles. 1996. Plato and the Socratic Dialogue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

↗
McCoy, Marina. 2008. Plato on the Rhetoric of Philosophers and Sophists. New York: Cambridge University Press.

↗

CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network →