Plato the Myth Maker - Hardcover

Brisson, Luc

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226075184 ISBN 13: 9780226075181

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1999

Synopsis

The word myth is commonly thought to mean a fictional story, but few know that Plato was the first to use the term muthos in that sense. He also used muthos to describe the practice of making and telling stories, the oral transmission of all that a community keeps in its collective memory. In the first part of Plato the Myth Maker, Luc Brisson reconstructs Plato's multifaceted description of muthos in light of the latter's Atlantis story. The second part of the book contrasts this sense of myth with another form of speech that Plato believed was far superior: the logos of philosophy.

Gerard Naddaf's substantial introduction shows the originality and importance both of Brisson's method and of Plato's analysis and places it in the context of contemporary debates over the origin and evolution of the oral tradition.
"[Brisson] contrasts muthos with the logos found at the heart of the philosophical reading. [He] does an excellent job of analyzing Plato's use of the two speech forms, and the translator's introduction does considerable service in setting the tone."—Library Journal

About this title

From the Back Cover

We think of myth as a fictional story, and Plato was the first to use the term muthos in that sense. But Plato also used muthos to describe the practice of making and telling stories, the oral transmission of all that a community keeps in its collective memory. In the first part of Plato the Myth Maker, Luc Brisson reconstructs Plato's multifaceted and not uncritical description of muthos in light of the latter's famous Atlantis story. The second part of the book contrasts this sense of myth, as Plato does, with another form of speech that he believed was far superior: the logos of philosophy. Appearing for the first time in English, Plato the Myth Maker is a solid and important contribution to the history of myth, based on the privileged testimony of one of its most influential critics and supporters.

About the Author

Luc Bisson is the directeur de recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and vice president of the International Plato Society.

Gerard Naddaf is an associate professor of philosophy at York University.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0226075184
• ISBN 13: 9780226075181
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244