Socrates

Can we learn, through the model of Socrates, practical wisdom that we can apply to our lives? What are we to make of the paradoxical and strange figure who claimed that the unexamined life is not worth living, that only knowledge can save our souls, that love is nothing but the desire for wisdom, and that knowledge of human excellence is such that only a god can possess it?

Protesting against traditional interpretations that tame the ancient philosopher by observing him through a lens of conventional wisdom, George Rudebusch s Socrates presents a compelling case for taking Socrates arguments and wild conclusions seriously, not merely as abstract exercises in cross–examining ideas of human excellence, but as a heavenly way for human beings to live.   

Original in approach, lovingly crafted with humor, thought–experiments, and literary references (from the Iliad to Harry Potter), and with close readings of key Socratic arguments, the book brings the strange figure of Socrates and his divine mission to life, philosophizing at the center of human concerns.

Table of Contents.

Introduction.

Life.

Sources.

Method.

Interpreting Socrates.

Human Excellence and Happiness.

Wisdom and Virtue.

Knowledge and Belief.

Power and Freedom.

God and Love.

The Philosophical Life

George Rudebusch is Professor of Philosophy at Northern Arizona University. He is the author of Socrates, Pleasure, and Value (1999).

The book is well and lucidly written, with plentiful tables and diagrams and excerpts . . ..She will have to be a bright student, because some of Rudebusch s arguments are quite subtle; but I, for one, would have no hesitation in recommending the book to such a student.   (The Heythrop Journal, 4 September 2013)

"A lucid and engaging account of the philosophy of Socrates. ... The experience of this book will be joyous for many readers, as it was for me. Rudebusch′s advocacy of Socrates as a thinker who has much to tell us about the good human life is carried off with passion and grace, as well as an enviable succinctness and clarity. It is a treatment that I expect will succeed, deservedly, in winning over new advocates." ( Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, April 2010)