Plato and Education (review)

344 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY reasons made to say certain things in a certain way. All the heresies may turn up in the next dialogue , and indeed probably will. This sort of constant warning to new readers of the Platonic corpus is useful indeed. Any book that seeks to provoke a thoughtful return to Plato's text is a welcome addition to the Platonic literature. Sallis recognizes that it was Plato's intention that the readers (or, if Gilbert Ryle be correct, originally hearers in the Academy) become active participants in the dialectic, a point many commentators utilizingmore abundant scholarly apparatus have blurred, or obscured altogether. One need agree with little else that Sallis claims to find in the dialogues than just this much in order to welcome the publication of his book. KEVlN ROBB University of Southern California Plato and Education. by Robin Barrow. (London and Boston: Routledge and Kegal Paul, 1976. Pp. x + 83. $8.75) In his introductory note the philosophy of education editor of the Students Library of Education series states that this book is a "sequel" to Barrow's earlier book Plato, Utilitarianism, and Education (1975). But it is questionable to refer to this as a sequel. For the earlier work is a polemical defense of the utilitarian political scheme Barrow finds in the Republic. Moreover, it contains rigorous analyses of a number of concepts concerning the system of education found in Plato's ideal city. Plato and Education, on the other hand, is a very short and hence very general introduction to some of the central issues taken up in the Republic. Barrow is writing here for a reader who may have read little or no Plato. He provides some sketchy historical background. (But it contains several minor inaccuracies. For instance, he states that in the Apology Socrates offered to pay a "ridiculouslylow fine," when in fact the one mina Socrates was willing to pay would have been a considerable sum for a man who makes much of his extreme poverty.) In his treatment of the Republic itself Barrow mentions, but does little to clarify, such things as the methods of elenchus and dialectic. At the end of his section on the theory of forms the reader knows only that the forms are essences; he knows nothing of the purported explanatory value of the theory. One of the virtues of this book, however, a virtue not found in many introductory works on the Republic, is that it provides a lucid summary of the theory of distributivejustice embodied in the ideal city and its underlyingassumption that it is unjust to distribute social benefits equally if maximized happiness for all is the supreme goal of a just society and if some are better situated than others to contribute to that goal. Another attractive feature of the book is Barrow's attempt to defend the right of states, in general, and of Plato's ideal city, in particular, to censor and indoctrinate under certain conditions. It should be said, however, that his discussions of these issues are merely capsulizations of those in Plato, Utilitarianism, and Education. Barrow's title is somewhat misleading since the book does not contain a broad sampling of Plato's remarks about education. The author restricts himself almost entirely to what is said about education in the Republic. Little mention is made of discussions about education and learning in other dialogues such as the Meno and the Theaetetus. I have reservations about recommending Plato and Education to anyone seeking an introduction to Platonic educational theory. And there is virtually nothing contained in the book that the more advanced student of Plato will not have previously considered. Barrow provides a very short, British-oriented bibliography and no index. THOMASC. BRICKHOUSE College of William and Mary ...