Socrates: A Man for Our Times

Initially, this began as a fascinating examination of a legendary philosopher. Johnson has a true gift for presenting complex subjects with a breezy geniality. His reverence for Socrates was infectious and the discoveries in the book felt exciting and important. Johnson stresses again and again how little source material there is to compile an accurate depiction of Socrates and the reader is appreciative that Johnson was able to piece this account together. But about half way through the book, one begins to realize that some of the author's most fundamental assertions seem impossible to verify. Being new to the subject, it was fascinating for me to learn how Plato used Socrates' voice for his own purposes in THE REPUBLIC. Johnson expressed a deep outrage at the famous student's self-serving methods and, as a reader, you shared that outrage. But Johnson's treatment of the existing source material begins to feel equally suspect. The inimitable A.C. Grayling gives a particularly damning account of the author's practice: ""and at his greater peril, he disdains Plato, asserting that "[the Republic] is not a text where, in general, the real Socrates speaks, though I think he does in this particular passage" -- meaning that he, Johnson, knows better than Plato (or any Plato scholar of the last 2,500 years) when the "real Socrates" speaks. When Plato's depiction fails to chime with Johnson's made-up version, it is dismissed as "illustrating his [Plato's] irritating habit of foisting his personal views on others." Pot and kettle here! So he cherry-picks words and passages that suit his purposes, and discards the rest."" Grayling, a Professor of Philosophy at London University, raises other troubling issues with the scholarship of the book that should flat out embarrass both Johnson and his publisher, Penguin Group (USA). Apparently Johnson is renown for stuffing his conservative ideologies into his examinations of historical figures and earnestly tries to pass them on as factual biographies. Although I can never recover the time I wasted reading this hack hagiography, I would still like to ask Penguin for a monetary refund. Too bad the publisher does not list any sort of complaint address on their website.

Very nice. Book