Taking inspiration from a contrast between necessity and philosophy introduced by Adeimantus, Winslow's exegesis is a tour de force in Platonic interpretation, which investigates necessity wherever it occurs in Plato's dialogues, bringing other dialogues to bear on encounters with necessity in the Republic … A painstaking and penetrating work of interpretation … The result is a demanding read, but one which promises exactly the kind of turning around that it describes.

Choice

In the past few decades, there has been significant attention paid to the ways in which vegetal and non-human animal life figures centrally in the drama of Plato's masterpiece and to the ways in which these representations compare to the depiction of material and soul, as creation and creature, in Timaeus. Winslow draws upon the findings of this important work to offer the first comprehensive analysis of the system of necessity that undergirds, or perhaps to stay with his organicism, provides the fertile soil for the contest of the just and unjust soul that constitutes the central argumentative concern of Republic. However intrinsically attuned other readers of Plato may be, we all stand to benefit greatly from careful consideration of this genuinely novel reading of this incredibly well-read text.

Michael Weinman, Indiana University

“It’s uncommon at this point in the history of philosophy to offer something novel regarding Plato, let alone about his Republic, but Russell Winslow has done so in the beautifully written and well-argued Necessity and Philosophy in Plato’s Republic. Winslow reinterprets the Republic on the basis of a “destabilizing irrationality” at work within its concept of necessity, an irrationality that betrays a tragic finitude inherent in human life and logos. Encountering this finitude, the book argues, produces the art forms of tragedy, comedy, and philosophy. Winslow’s book is a welcomed challenge to revisit and re-think a dialogue that has become perhaps only too familiar.”

Sonja Tanner, University of Colorado