Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Plutarch and Biography
- Chapter 2 Romanness and Greekness in Plutarch
- Chapter 3 Plutarch As Moral and Political Educator
- Chapter 4 In the Spirit of Plato
- Chapter 5 Plutarch As a Polemicist
- Chapter 6 Religion and Myth in Plutarch
- Chapter 7 Plutarch at the Symposium
- Chapter 8 Language, Style, and Rhetoric
- Chapter 9 Plutarch and Classical Greece
- Chapter 10 Great Men
- Chapter 11 Thinking “Private Life”
- Chapter 12 Wealth and Decadence in Plutarch’s Lives
- Chapter 13 Plutarch and the Barbarian “Other”
- Chapter 14 Plutarch and Animals
- Chapter 15 Plutarch in Byzantium
- Chapter 16 Plutarch in the Italian Renaissance
- Chapter 17 Plutarch and the Spanish Renaissance
- Chapter 18 Plutarch and Shakespeare
- Chapter 19 Plutarch in France
- Bibliography
- Appendix: Plutarch’s Moralia
- Index Locorum
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Chapter 4 - In the Spirit of Plato
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 June 2023
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Plutarch and Biography
- Chapter 2 Romanness and Greekness in Plutarch
- Chapter 3 Plutarch As Moral and Political Educator
- Chapter 4 In the Spirit of Plato
- Chapter 5 Plutarch As a Polemicist
- Chapter 6 Religion and Myth in Plutarch
- Chapter 7 Plutarch at the Symposium
- Chapter 8 Language, Style, and Rhetoric
- Chapter 9 Plutarch and Classical Greece
- Chapter 10 Great Men
- Chapter 11 Thinking “Private Life”
- Chapter 12 Wealth and Decadence in Plutarch’s Lives
- Chapter 13 Plutarch and the Barbarian “Other”
- Chapter 14 Plutarch and Animals
- Chapter 15 Plutarch in Byzantium
- Chapter 16 Plutarch in the Italian Renaissance
- Chapter 17 Plutarch and the Spanish Renaissance
- Chapter 18 Plutarch and Shakespeare
- Chapter 19 Plutarch in France
- Bibliography
- Appendix: Plutarch’s Moralia
- Index Locorum
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Summary
Plutarch the philosopher is present in all his texts. His allegiance is not in doubt: he is a follower of Plato, who is open-minded to other schools, as far as their views are reconcilable with Plato’s. He is above all committed to the dialogical spirit pervading Plato’s works. In several more technical treatises, he develops the core of his philosophical views. These have to do with the composition of the world-soul and its image, the human soul. From there, Plutarch develops his views on moral psychology: it is the task of reason, the divine presence in us, to control the irrational passions. This idea forms the basis of various texts in which the therapy of the soul and the development of character are the central goals. Plutarch’s concept of philosophy and his doctrinal stance are quite different from what we find in later Platonism. Later doxographical reports on Plutarch are not always reliable.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch , pp. 79 - 100Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023