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9[Review] Socratic and Platonic Political Philosophy: Practicing a Politics of Reading. By Christopher P. Long (review)Plato Journal 15 109-113. 2015.
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49Leo Strauss on ''German Nihilism'': Learning the Art of WritingJournal of the History of Ideas 68 (4): 587-612. 2007.The year Leo Strauss published "Persecution and the Art of Writing" (1941), he prepared a lecture ("German Nihilism") that he never published. An analysis of this lecture shows that Strauss hadn't fully mastered the art of writing he'd discovered in others: his secrets are too exposed. In the context of "German Nihilism," it becomes clear that "Persecution and the Art of Writing" is about liberal persecution of authoritarianism, no the reverse, as liberals would assume. In response to recent apo…Read more
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78The Hindenburg Line of the Strauss warsPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 40 (1): 118-153. 2010.Bringing continental sensibilities and skill to his project, David Janssens has abandoned the line of defense heretofore used by North American intellectuals to shield Leo Strauss from criticism: Janssens wastes no time trying to prove Strauss was a liberal democrat, frankly admits his atheism, and emphasizes the continuity and European origins of his thought. Nevertheless committed to defending Strauss even at his most vulnerable points, Janssens is compelled to anchor his new defensive positio…Read more
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10Plato the Teacher: The Crisis of the RepublicLexington Books. 2012.The pedagogical technique of the playful Plato, especially his ability to create living discourses that directly address the student, is the subject of Plato the Teacher. “The crisis of the Republic” refers to the decisive moment in his central dialogue when philosopher-readers realize that Plato’s is challenging them to choose justice by going back down into the dangerous Cave of political life for the sake of the greater Good, as both Socrates and Cicero did.
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140A Brief Prehistory of Philosophical ParaconsistencyPrincipia: An International Journal of Epistemology 14 (1): 1-14. 2010.In celebration of Newton da Costa’s place in the history of paraconsistency, this paper considers the use and abuse of deliberate self-contradiction. Beginning with Parmenides, developed by Plato, and continued by Cicero, an ancient philosophical tradition used deliberately paraconsistent discourses to reveal the truth. In modern times, decisionism has used deliberate self-contradiction against Judeo-Christian revelation. • DOI:10.5007/1808-1711.2010v14n1p1.
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72Likeness and Likelihood in the Presocratics and Plato. By Jenny Bryan (review)Ancient Philosophy 33 (1): 194-198. 2013.
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4Ascent to the Good: The Reading Order of Plato’s Dialogues From Symposium to RepublicLexington Books. 2018.This study reconsiders Plato’s “Socratic” dialogues—Charmides, Laches, Lysis, Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Meno—as parts of an integrated curriculum. By privileging reading order over order of composition, a Platonic pedagogy teaching that the Idea of the Good is a greater object of philosophical concern than what benefits the self is spotlighted.
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120Review essay: Pyrrhic Victories and a Trojan Horse in the Strauss warsPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 39 (2): 294-323. 2009.A careful reading of Harvey C. Mansfield's Manlines s and the recent translation of Daniel Tanguay's Leo Strauss; une biographie intellectuelle reveals that neither text supports the view that Leo Strauss was a harmless if qualified friend of liberal democracy. Key Words: Leo Strauss • Straussians • Nietzsche • Carl Schmitt • Heidegger • National Socialism • Liberalism • Redlichkeit • Hobbes • Hegel • Viktor Trivas
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6The German Stranger: Leo Strauss and National SocialismLexington Books, a Division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2011.The German Stranger provides a guide to Leo Strauss that situates his thought in the context of National Socialism; by destroying any middle ground between 'Athens' and 'Jerusalem, ' Strauss undermined modernity's secular bulwark against political theology. Once National Socialism is understood as an atheistic religion re-enacted by post-Revelation 'philosophers, ' the German avatar of Plato's Athenian Stranger can be recognized as its principal theoreticia
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6Martin Heidegger and the First World War: Being and Time as Funeral OrationLexington Books. 2012.In a new approach to a vexing problem in modern philosophy, William H. F. Altman shows that Heidegger’s decision to join the Nazis in 1933 can only be understood in the context of his complicated relationship with the Great War
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2This book argues that Cicero deserves to be spoken of with more respect and to be studied with greater care. Using Plato’s influence on Cicero’s life and writings as a clue, Altman reveals the ineffable combination of qualities—courage, originality, intelligence, sparkling wit, subtlety, deep respect for his teacher, and deadly seriousness of purpose—that enabled Cicero not only to revive Platonism, but also to rival Plato himself.
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4In this book, William H. F. Altman considers the pedagogical connections behind the post-Republic dialogues from Timaeus to Theaetetus in the context of their Reading Order.
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5Martin Heidegger and the First World War: Being and Time as Funeral OrationLexington Books. 2012.In a new approach to a vexing problem in modern philosophy, William H. F. Altman shows that Heidegger’s decision to join the Nazis in 1933 can only be understood in the context of his complicated relationship with the Great War.
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4Why Plato Wrote Epinomis: Leonardo Tarán and the Thirteenth Book of Plato’s LawsPolis 29 (1): 83-107. 2012.Tarán’s case against the authenticity of Epinomis depends on the claim that it is incompatible with Plato’s Laws. Behind this claim is the uncritical assumption that the Athenian Stranger of Laws speaks for Plato. While the Athenian Stranger of Epinomis clearly does not do so, the same is equally true, albeit more difficult to detect, of the Stranger in Laws. Once the Athenian is recognized as both ambitious and impious, a reconstruction of the last sentence of Epinomis — on which Tarán’s incomp…Read more
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8The Guardians on Trial: The Reading Order of Plato's Dialogues From Euthyphro to PhaedoLexington Books. 2016.In this book, William H. F. Altman argues that it is not order of composition but reading order that makes Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, Crito, and Phaedo “late dialogues,” and shows why Plato’s decision to interpolate the notoriously “late” Sophist and Statesman between Euthyphro and Apology deserves more respect from interpreters.
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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: The Philosopher of the Second ReichLexington Books. 2012.By subjecting Nietzsche to a Platonic critique, author William H. F. Altman punctures his “pose of untimeliness” while making use of Nietzsche’s own aphoristic style of presentation. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche—named for a Prussian King—is thereby revealed to be the representative philosopher of the Second Reich.
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Brill's Companion to the Reception of Cicero (edited book)Brill. 2015.Situating Cicero in the context of his use and abuse from antiquity to the present, an international and interdisciplinary team of scholars provides several good reasons to return to the study of his many writings with greater interest and respect.
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48Cicero’s Skepticism and His Recovery of Political PhilosophyAncient Philosophy 38 (1): 225-229. 2018.
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41A Brief Prehistory of Philosophical ParaconsistencyPrincipia: An International Journal of Epistemology 14 (1): 1-14. 2010.Celebrando o papel de Newton da Costa na história da paraconsistência, este trabalho examina o uso e abuso da deliberada auto-contradição. Iniciado por Parmênides, desenvolvido por Platão, e continuado por Cícero, uma antiga tradição filosófica usava deliberadamente discursos paraconsistentes para revelar a verdade. Nos tempos modernos, o decisionismo tem usado uma deliberada auto-contradição contra a revelação Judaico-Cristã. DOI:10.5007/1808-1711.2010v14n1p1
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38A Written Republic: Cicero’s Philosophical Politics, by Yelena BarazAncient Philosophy 33 (2): 454-457. 2013.
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13Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: The Philosopher of the Second ReichLexington Books. 2012.By subjecting Nietzsche to a Platonic critique, author William H. F. Altman punctures his “pose of untimeliness” while making use of Nietzsche’s own aphoristic style of presentation. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche—named for a Prussian King—is thereby revealed to be the representative philosopher of the Second Reich
William H.F. Altman
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
Alumnus, 2010
Areas of Specialization
History of Western Philosophy |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
19th Century German Philosophy |