Becoming Socrates

<p>Plato's <em>Parmenides</em> is regarded as a canonical work in ontology. Depicting a conversation between Parmenides of Elea and a young Socrates the dialogue presents a rigorous examination of Socrates' theory of the forms the most influential account of being in the philosophic tradition. In this commentary on the <em>Parmenides</em> Alex Priou argues that the dialogue is in actuality a reflection on politics. Priou begins from the accepted view that the conversation consists of two discrete parts -- a critique of the forms followed by Socrates' philosophical training -- but finds a unity to the dialogue yet to be discovered. By paying careful attention to what Parmenides calls the "greatest impasse" facing Socrates' ontology Priou reveals a political context to the conversation. The need in society for order and good rule includes the need at a more fundamental level for an adequate and efficacious explanation of being. Recounting here how a young Socrates first learned of the primacy of political philosophy which would become the hallmark of his life <em>Becoming Socrates</em> shows that political philosophy and not ontology is "first philosophy." Alex Priou is lecturer in philosophy and the humanities at Long Island University.</p>