Plato's Parmenides: The Conversion of the Soul

by Mitchell H. Miller Jr.

The Parmenides is arguably the pivotal text for understanding the Platonic corpus as a whole. Miller offers a new reading that takes as its key the closely constructed dramatic context and mimetic irony of the dialogue.

Genres: Philosophy

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Mitchell “Mitch” Miller earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his MA and PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He joined the Philosophy Department at Vassar College in 1972, rising to the rank of professor in 1984. He served as chair of the department from 1984 to 1987, in 1988, and again from 1994 to 1996. In 2009, he was appointed to the Dexter M. Ferry Jr. Chair. He retired in 2014, becoming Dexter Ferry Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus.

Miller is broadly interested in the history of philosophy, and he has done work in areas ranging from medieval philosophy to 20th-century continental philosophy. He is perhaps best known, however, for his work on Plato. He has published two books, as well as articles, reviews, and comments almost too numerous to count.

He has been a frequent consultant to departments at other institutions and has often been asked to review article and book manuscripts for journals and presses.

He has served as a referee for several major granting institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Earhart Foundation.

Reviews

[Jacob Hurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great & no-nonsense study of the Parmenides. Miller's main effort is to understand the dialogue as a DIALOGUE and not a mere series of doctrines (as some neo-platonists have) or, worse, as an expression of confusion on Plato's part (as some confused academics have). Like any great study of Plato, it carefully examines each sentence and word with an eye for both the logical play, as well as the dramatic and reader-reception effects. He approaches this all with a very stern rigor and achieves great results; surprising, perhaps, that he neither cites nor seems aware of Leo Strauss or his students, although this may well be what allows him to write so clearly and explicitly on the matter. Highly recommended for those looking to be initiated into the eleatic mysteries

[Michael A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides some much-needed guidance and intelligibility to an otherwise impenetrable Platonic dialogue.

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plato's Parmenides is both one of the most difficult as well as one of the most important of Plato's dialogues. Dr. Miller's book on it -- and on "the Conversion of the Soul" - - is first-rate. By approaching this dialogue from its dramatic side, insights become more readily available and one can better grasp its place within the entire Platonic corpus. There are extensive end-notes which give the advanced reader more than sufficient threads to follow, the novice, however, can simply read the basic text and learn more than he would be able to from any other book.

[Stephen Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is clear walk this important duologue. Not only is it a rational myth played out possibly 450 years before our time when the Western and Eastern schools of philosophy forced together by Ancient Greek Hagiographa and gave birth to Mathematics and Science.