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20AestheticsIn Gerald Press (ed.), Continuum Companion to Plato, Continuum Press. pp. 129-30. 2013.Many of Plato’s dialogues explicitly discuss matters that today fall under the umbrella of aesthetics. Literary criticism occupies a prominent place in the Ion, Menexenus, Symposium, Republic, Phaedrus and Laws . Arguments about the standard of aesthetic judgement occupy most of the Hippias Major , as well as portions of the Smp. and the second book of theLg. Some dialogues even venture into territory that we might describe as ‘pure aesthetics’, in that they dis-cuss specific perceptible proper…Read more
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20Authenticity, Experiment or Development: The Alcibiades I on Virtue and CourageIn H. Tarrant & M. Johnson (eds.), Alcibiades and the Socratic Lover-Educator, Bristol Classical Press. pp. 119-133. 2012.It has become customary to begin any discussion of the Alcibiades with a review of its puzzling features. Any way you look at it, the Alcibiades is a strange dialogue. Stylistically it is peculiar, not only because it contains some unique terms,2 but also because it contains similarities to early, middle and even late dialogues. These similarities are distributed to different parts of the dialogue, prompting some scholars to maintain that the Alcibiades was written piecemeal, perhaps by differen…Read more
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17Plato and the secularisation of Greek theologyIn J. Kindt, E. Eidinow & R. Osborne (eds.), Theologies of Ancient Greek Religion,, Cambridge University Press. pp. 301-316. 2016.
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17Plato's Laws on Correctness as the Standard of ArtLiterature & Aesthetics 19 (1): 237-256. 2009.Most readers of Plato’s dialogues would probably think of him as likely to approve more of the old masters than of new art. The old masters were on the whole far more realistic than modern painters—compare, say, Velázquez Innocent X (1650) with Matisse The Snail (1953)2—and Plato often seems to take issue with an artist if he departs even slightly from realism. A long section of the Ion, for example, is dedicated to showing that experts in charioteering, medicine, and other areas make the best j…Read more
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16Tolstoy and the Communication of Aesthetic FeelingLiterature and Aesthetics 15 (2): 167-176. 2005.Once upon a time, a scholar, ascetic and relig-ious man named Abu Hamid Ibn Muhammad Ibn Muhammad al-Tusi al-Shafi'i al-Ghazali (AI-Ghazali, 1058-11 II) wrote a worl, called The Incoherence qf the Philosophers, 1\ clever philosopher, Abu AI-\Valid Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Hushd (Averroes, 112li-1 ID8), responded to this by writing The IlIcolurence (!l the Inroherence. In IVhat is Art;;, Tolstoy refers to the importance of art in order to ridicule itl He notes the attention paid to art, music, thea…Read more
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15Cowardice, Moral Philosophy and Saying what you ThinkIn Gerald Press (ed.), Who Speaks for Plato, Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 83-98. 2000.
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14Ethics and Communication: The Cassandra Dialogue in Aeschylus' AgamemnonModern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 12 334-346. 2004.
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14Object-Oriented Aesthetics: Plato's Legacy in the Philosophy of ArtModern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 13 39-50. 2006.In this paper I will begin by exploring the context in which objectoriented aesthetics arose. I will set object-oriented aesthetics against another focus which I shall call "activity-oriented aesthetics", in which the excellence of an artistic production lies in the artist's activity. This activity is merely expressed in the finished work, even when the work is overwhelmingly admirable. Excellent artistic activity originates and persists in the artist's manner, execution and style. 1 Just as the…Read more
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13Introduction to Special Issue of Literature and Aesthetics: Plato's MusicLiterature and Aesthetics 19 (1): 9-16. 2009.When I was asked to contribute an issue to the Literature and Aesthetics series on great thinkers in aesthetics, I did not appreciate how difficult it might be to put together a volume on Plato. Originally my plan was simply to call the volume Plato’s Aesthetics, or Plato on Art and Beauty. I came to realise, however, that Plato was not driven to write about art from an interest in aesthetics (at least not aesthetics as we know it), and that the terms ‘art’ and ‘beauty’ are very inaccurate descr…Read more
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13Characterisation and Interpretation: The Importance of Drama in Plato's SophistLiterature & Aesthetics 6 27-39. 1996.Plato's Sophist is complex. Its themes are many and ambiguous. The early grammarians gave it the subtitle1tEp1. 'tau ov'to~ ('on being') and assigned it to Plato's logical investigations. The Neoplatonists prized it for a theory of ontological categories they preferred to Aristotle's. Modern scholars sometimes court paradox and refer to the Sophist as Plato's dialogue on not-being (because the question ofthe possibility of not-being occupies much of the dialogue). Whitehead took the Sophist to b…Read more
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12Myth, Dialogue and the Allegorical Interpretation of PlatoModern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 1 1-15. 2013.From the late Classical period until the Nineteenth Century, Plato was admired for his inspiration and vision, rather than for his theories and argumentation. Then with the advent of analytic philosophy in the Twentieth Century, the pendulum swung hard in the other direction. Plato’s myths were largely ignored. The drama of his dialogues was considered insignificant. The theory of forms and the theory of recollection (as a gloss on immortality) became the pillars of Platonism, and the journals b…Read more
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11Forms in Plato's PhilebusVan Gorcum. 1989.This study consists of a series of essays on the metaphysics and epistemology of Plato's Philebus. My chief aim is to determine to what extent Plato maintains the theory of Forms in that dialogue. Because it is generally thought to be a late dialogue, the Philebus is a key to setting a long-standing debate about Plato's philosophical development. Scholars disagree on whether the theory of Forms is maintained in Plato's late dialogues. Most recent interpretations of the Philebus claim that it is …Read more
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11Teaching Across the Eye: Insecurity, Individuality, and Intellectual Values in Global Higher Education PracticeIn Colina Mason & F. Rawlings-Sanaei (eds.), Academic Migration, Discipline Knowledge and Pedagogical Practice, Springer. pp. 93-104. 2014.This paper describes adjustments to teaching practice after migrating from the North American to the Australasian higher education sector. Although the particular experience described is individual and personal, the discoveries and adjustments made can be useful to anyone who faces the experience of academic migration, or even to any teacher. Key adjustments recommended include emphasis on inquiry over information, patient attention to the individuality of learners and teachers, and shared pract…Read more
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11MORALITY IN TRAGEDY - Lawrence Moral Awareness in Greek Tragedy. Pp. x + 335. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Paper, £25, US$65 . ISBN: 978-0-19-965976-0 (review)The Classical Review 64 (2): 354-355. 2014.
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10Accidents in Learning: The Limitation of Intended Learning Outcomes in Humanities TeachingProceedings of the 10th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities 1. 2012.
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9Kant, Pessoa, Plato: Three Approaches to TransculturalityIn G. Marchianò & R. Milani (eds.), Frontiers of Transculturality in Contemporary Aesthetics, Trauben Edizione. pp. 35-50. 2001.
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8LachesIn Gerald Press (ed.), Continuum Companion to Plato, Continuum Press. pp. 63-65. 2013.According to the canon of Thrasyllus (see D. L. 3.59), Plato’s Laches is about cour-age and employs, to borrow a term from Theaetetus 149a–51d, an ‘obstetric’ method, in which the ideas of Socrates’ interlocu-tors are delivered into the light of day and examined. These Thrasyllan labels correctly identify the simple theme and tactic of the La., but as with all of the Socratic dialogues, apparent simplicity disguises enormous sub-tlety of structure and composition. One thing that seems hidden fr…Read more
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7Plato The Swan: Interpretation and the Hunt for Plato's DoctrinesArche 13 15-32. 2010.In this paper I use the traditional image of Plato as swan to suggest that interpreting Plato should not be a matter of getting to know what his doctrines are (a doctrinal approach), but rather a of getting to know Plato himself (a knowledge by acquaintance approach). I argue that the dialogues encourage the knowledge by acquaintance approach and discourage the doctrinal approach, through the use of Platonic anonymity, Platonic irony and Platonic self-effacement. I point out how the knowledge by…Read more
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6LawsIn Gerald Press (ed.), Continuum Companion to Plato, Continuum Press. pp. 65-67. 2013.The Laws is the longest and, according to tra-dition, the last of Plato’s dialogues. It was left ‘in the wax’ at the time of Plato’s death and brought into publication by Philip of Opus (D. L. 3.37). Whether Philip had a hand in editing the work or whether he merely tran-scribed it is uncertain (for one recent account, see Nails and Thesleff 2003). The most recent analyses of its style indicate significant affini-ties with the Sophist, Politicus and Philebus, though there are stark differences i…Read more
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3Dialogues with Plato (edited book)Academic Printing and Publishing. 1996.These essays discuss Plato's dialogues understood as processes of habituation and discuss issues of moral expertise, moral training, moral knowledge, and the transcendent good. The essays considered include Crito, Charmides, Phaedo, Philebus, Republic, and Sophist.
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1Reflections on Plato's Poetics (edited book)Academic Printing and Publishing. 2016.Reflections on Plato's Poetics presents the reflections of leading scholars from China and the West on the form, nature and significance of Plato's engagement with poetry. The book does not adopt any monolithic point of view about Plato and poetry. Instead it openly explores Plato's attitudes to poetry, both comprehensively and within the intricate confines of particular dialogues. These reflections reveal a Plato who is deeply influenced by poetry; a Plato who writes, at least very often, from …Read more
Annandale, New South Wales, Australia
Areas of Specialization
History of Western Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
History of Western Philosophy |