Gregory Vlastos (; el, Γρηγόριος Βλαστός; July 27, 1907 – October 12, 1991) was a preeminent scholar of

ancient philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). Overview Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many culture ...

, and author of many works on Plato and Socrates. He transformed the analysis of classical philosophy by applying techniques of modern analytic philosophy to restate and evaluate the views of Socrates and Plato.

Life and works

Vlastos was born in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, to a Scottish mother and a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

father, where he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

from Robert College before moving to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

where he received a PhD in 1931. After teaching for several years at Queen's University in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...

, Canada, he moved to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1948. He was Stuart Professor of Philosophy at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

between 1955 and 1976, and then Mills Professor of Philosophy at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

until 1987. He received a

MacArthur Foundation Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

in 1990. He was twice awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, was a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, a corresponding fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

, and a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

.An ''In memoriam'' essay
In 1988 he gave the British Academy's Master-Mind Lecture. Vlastos died in 1991, before finishing a new compilation of essays on Socratic philosophy. He is credited with bringing about a renaissance of interest in

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

among philosophers throughout the world. Many of Vlastos' students have become important scholars of ancient philosophy, including

Terence Irwin Terence Henry Irwin FBA (; born 21 April 1947), usually cited as T. H. Irwin, is a scholar and philosopher specializing in ancient Greek philosophy and the history of ethics (i.e., the history of Western moral philosophy in ancient, medieval, and ...

, Richard Kraut,

Paul Woodruff Paul Woodruff (born 1943) is a classicist, professor of philosophy, and dean at The University of Texas at Austin, where he once chaired the department of philosophy and has more recently held the Hayden Head Regents Chair as director of Plan II H ...

, and

Alexander Nehamas Alexander Nehamas ( el, Αλέξανδρος Νεχαμάς; born 22 March 1946) is a Greek-born American philosopher. He is a professor of philosophy and comparative literature and the Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in the Humani ...

Theory of Socratic philosophy

In his work ''The Philosophy of Socrates: a Collection of Critical Essays'' (UNDP 1971), Vlastos advanced the idea "that one can identify in certain Platonic dialogues a philosophical method and a collection of philosophical theses which may properly be attributed to

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

." He suggested a plausible modern analytic framework for Socratic philosophy as a pursuit distinct from Platonic philosophy. The dialogues of Plato’s Socratic period, called "

elenctic The Socratic method (also known as method of Elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate) is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw ...

dialogues" for Socrates’s preferred method of questioning, are ''Apology'', ''Charmides'', ''Crito'', ''

Euthyphro ''Euthyphro'' (; grc, Εὐθύφρων, translit=Euthyphrōn; c. 399–395 BC), by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue whose events occur in the weeks before the trial of Socrates (399 BC), between Socrates and Euthyphro. The dialogue covers sub ...

'', ''Gorgias'', '' Hippias Minor'', ''Ion'', ''Laches'', ''Protagoras'' and book 1 of the ''Republic''. The idea remains controversialAristotle, ''Metaphysics'', 1.98

/ref> John_M._Cooper_(philosopher), Cooper, John M.; Hutchinson, D.S., eds. (1997): "Introduction", pp.xv-xvi,
Plato: Complete Works
/ref> and those who agree with his position are referred to as Vlastosians.

Works

* ''Christian Faith and Democracy'', Association Press, 1939 * ''Platonic Studies'', Princeton University Press, 1973,

* ''Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher'', Cornell University Press, 1991, * Socratic Studies, Cambridge University Press, 1994,
1995 pbk reprint
* ''Studies in Greek Philosophy Volume I: the Presocratics'', Princeton University Press, 1995, * ''Studies in Greek Philosophy; Volume II: Socrates, Plato, and Their Tradition'', Princeton University Press, 1995,
''Plato's Universe''
Parmenides Publishing, 2005,

Edited

* ''Towards the Christian Revolution'' - with R.B.Y. Scott, Willett, Clark & Company, 1936. * ''Plato, a Collection of Critical Essays'': ''I, Metaphysics and Epistemology''; ''II, Ethics, Politics, and Philosophy of Art and Religion''. Anchor Books / Doubleday and Company, 1971 * ''Philosophy of Socrates: a Collection of Critical Essays'' (Modern Studies in Philosophy), University of Notre Dame Press, 1980,

References

External links