Most philosophy has rejected the theater, denouncing it as a place
of illusion or moral decay; the theater in turn has rejected
philosophy, insisting that drama deals in actions, not ideas.
Challenging both views, The Drama of Ideas shows that theater and
philosophy have been crucially intertwined from the start. Plato is
the presiding genius of this alternative history. The Drama of
Ideas presents Plato not only as a theorist of drama, but also as a
dramatist himself, one who developed a dialogue-based dramaturgy
that differs markedly from the standard, Aristotelian view of
theater. Puchner discovers scores of dramatic adaptations of
Platonic dialogues, the most immediate proof of Plato's hitherto
unrecognized influence on theater history. Drawing on these
adaptations, Puchner shows that Plato was central to modern drama
as well, with figures such as Wilde, Shaw, Pirandello, Brecht, and
Stoppard using Plato to create a new drama of ideas. Puchner then
considers complementary developments in philosophy, offering a
theatrical history of philosophy that includes Kierkegaard,
Nietzsche, Burke, Sartre, Camus, and Deleuze. These philosophers
proceed with constant reference to theater, using theatrical terms,
concepts, and even dramatic techniques in their writings. The Drama
of Ideas mobilizes this double history of philosophical theater and
theatrical philosophy to subject current habits of thought to
critical scrutiny. In dialogue with contemporary thinkers such as
Martha Nussbaum, Iris Murdoch, and Alain Badiou, Puchner formulates
the contours of a "dramatic Platonism." This new Platonism does not
seek to return to an idealist theory of forms, but it does point
beyond the reigning philosophies of the body, of materialism and of
cultural relativism.
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