Tae-Yeoun Keum is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was previously the Christopher Tower Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church, University of Oxford.
An important book for our troubled times. Beginning with Plato and extending into Plato's reception amongst modern theorists of myth, Keum's guiding question is whether myth, in its ability to captivate the mind in what might be described as a non-rational way, can achieve forms of communication that strictly rational thought cannot, and whether there may be a normative role for myth to play in political discourse today. -- Angus Nicholls, Queen Mary University of London Tae-Yeoun Keum traces a rich tradition reflecting on Plato's use of myth, revealing how attention to myth as a literary artifact can modulate its relationship to unchallenged social verities and serve in philosophical self-examination and social improvement. Her readings of More, Bacon, Leibniz, the German Idealists, and Cassirer are subtle and original in drawing out these themes. -- Melissa Lane, Princeton University Plato and the Mythic Tradition in Political Thought provides a fine, original, and persuasive case for a reconsideration of Plato's myths and their bearing on political thought. Tae-Yeoun Keum's reading of Plato as a political philosopher who sees the value of myth-making deserves a wide audience. -- Tushar Irani, author of <i>Plato on the Value of Philosophy</i>