Joel Alden Schlosser

My article examining James Baldwin as a Socratic figure has finally appeared in print in Political Research Quarterly. It's the first article in this September's issue, the Table of Contents of which is here . If you do not have subscription access, I would be happy to send you a copy of the article. Here is the abstract: This essay interprets Baldwin as continuing the Socratic practice of self-examination and social criticism while also shifting his Socratic undertaking by charting the limits of examination created by the harsh effects of race and slavery in the United States. The author argues that Baldwin’s Socratic practice inflects not only his essays—the center of previous analyses—but also his fictions. By transposing Socrates to issues of race in twentieth-century America and confronting the incoherent effects of a racialized society, James Baldwin thus carries forward and transforms a pivotal figure in the history of political thought. I'd love to hear your co...

I have updated the pages on "Research" and "Teaching" above to describe all of my ongoing research projects as well as my specific teaching interests. Comments and suggestions on these changes are welcome!

I'm very pleased to announce that my book  What Would Socrates Do?  has been accepted by Cambridge University Press! I do not yet have an expected publication date, but I will update with more information soon. [UPDATE: Assuming revisions and editing go smoothly, the book should be out Summer 2014.]

This spring at Deep Springs, I'm teaching an intensive seven-week course on Critical Theory Past and Present; I've posted the syllabus under "Teaching." We'll be working through Horkheimer, Adorno, Habermas, and Honneth as well as Nancy Fraser, Seyla Benhabib, and Iris Marion Young. It should be a great course!

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my review of Roslyn Weiss's impressive new study of Plato's Republic  in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review . I'd highly recommend Weiss's work, which now includes book-length studies of the Crito and the Meno as well as the Republic . Here's a link to my piece:  http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2013/2013-03-33.html .

I just completed a book review of John Cooper's Pursuits of Wisdom for Foucault Studies , which should be coming out in the next few months. Here's my first paragraph: “Philosophy is no doubt a delightful thing,” Callicles says to Socrates in Plato’s Gorgias, “as long as one is exposed to it in moderation at the appropriate time of life. But if one spends more time with it than he should, it’s a man’s undoing.” John M. Cooper’s Pursuits of Wisdom sets out, much as Socrates did in reply to Callicles, to show his readers “how wonderfully good and, above all, interesting the philosophies of antiquity are,” and his intricate and lucid reconstructions of the philosophies of Socrates, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, the Skeptics, and the Platonists provide a useful account of why philosophy is such a “delightful thing.” Yet while offering perspicuous readings of these philosophers’ arguments, Cooper’s book also misses an opportunity to convince the likes of Callicles toda...

I'm thrilled to announce that my article on hope and Thucydides, entitled "'Hope, Danger's Comforter': Thucydides, Hope, Politics," has now been published by The Journal of Politics . In the abstract, I describe the article as follows: With its ascendancy in American political discourse during the past few years, hope has become a watchword of politics, yet the rhetoric has failed to inquire into the actual function of hope in political life. This essay examines elpis, the Greek word for ‘‘hope,’’ in Thucydides’ History and offers a theoretical account of this concept and its connection to successful political action. I suggest that a complex understanding of hope structures Thucydides’ narrative: Hope counts as among the most dangerous political delusions, yet it also offers the only possible response to despair. Thucydides’ text educates the judgment of his readers, chastening hope while showing its importance despite its flaws. The History thus offers an...