The Rhetoric of Plato's Republic: Democracy and the Philosophical Problem of Persuasion by James L. Kastely (review)

With the possible exception of the Timaeus and its pervasive influence on the metaphysics of the Middle Ages, the Republic is arguably Plato's best-known and most influential work. Throughout history it has been commented on and imitated by prominent rhetors and rhetoricians like Cicero, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas More. Whereas tomes of political and philosophical commentary exist, it has not been considered at full length in contemporary rhetorical studies—until now. In this book, James Kastely undertakes an ambitious project that he hopes "will inaugurate a reconsideration of the importance of the Republic for the history and theory of rhetoric" (xv). The vehicle for this inauguration is a revisionary reading of the Republic as thoroughly occupied with questions of persuasion and motivated by concerns of social and individual reform.

Chapter 1 functions as a comprehensive introduction: a crisis exists concerning the value of justice and its desirability to the citizens of a democracy. Thrasymachus famously argues for the attractiveness of injustice and defends tyranny in book 1 of the Republic. Although he is bested by Socrates dialectically, Plato's brothers Glaucon and Adeimantus find the argument unpersuasive. They desire to defend justice, and "their frustration at the lack of effective rhetorical discourse… makes them discontented and turn to Socrates for a solution" (15). According to Kastely, Plato holds that such political desires and beliefs can be transformed by rhetoric and that this transformative process is at the heart of the dialogue (4). He reminds the reader that "republic" translates politeia, while a "more helpful translation" is "constitution," which entails a rhetorical act that "depends on the artful use of language to enable an audience to transform itself" (5). In the case of the Republic, this artful use is not dialectical but the rhetorical employment of mimetic poetry through which "a culture transmits and inculcates its values" (4). Mimetically, the Republic offers an "image of philosophy" as opposed to a dialectical "understanding of philosophy" (10). This image is not meant to condemn democracy but to address a democratic audience suspicious of justice and of philosophy itself—suspicions generated by the very democracy in which they live (12–13).

For Kastely, Plato's intent is to problematize Socratic dialectic as unpersuasive, thereby situating the text as an attempt to meet the challenge of making philosophy useful for a nonphilosophical audience. Viewed in this way, the Republic is an epic poem that represents an act of persuasion that can educate philosophers in rhetoric and persuade nonphilosophers of the value of philosophy even if they never practice it. The result is not a static defense of justice but an organic resource adaptable to the contingencies of variable sociopolitical circumstances.

The first chapter lays out the conceptual entirety of the argument. The remainder of the book offers a sustained examination of the text in support and expansion of this argument, with chapters 2–10 roughly paralleling books 1–10 of the Republic. For instance, chapter 2 examines the characters of book 1 as individuals engaged in acts of persuasion. The elderly and wealthy Cephalus is immune from persuasive arguments about justice because he does not care enough to take part in the discussion at length (28–29). His son Polemarchus cares about defending conventional sentiments about justice, but he lacks intellectual rigor and ultimately accepts Socrates's conclusions uncritically (34). Thrasymachus takes over the argument by championing tyranny and condemning justice. Although he is bested by dialectic he remains unpersuaded.

The structure makes for a cohesive and comprehensive treatment of the Republic in terms of persuasion. For this reason, it could serve as an instructive companion text in graduate courses on the history of rhetoric. In this capacity the book is useful for introducing the reader to interdisciplinary issues and sources surrounding the Republic, as Kastely draws on a number of classicists and philosophers...