GONZALEZ, Francisco J.

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Northern Illinois University, B.A.; University of Toronto, M.A., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Philosophy and Religion, Skidmore College, 815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, associate professor of philosophy.

AWARDS, HONORS: Humboldt research fellowship; National Endowment for the Humanities research fellowship.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) The Third Way: New Directions in Platonic Studies, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 1995.

Dialectic and Dialogue: Plato's Practice of Philosophical Inquiry, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 1998.

SIDELIGHTS: Francisco J. Gonzalez's Dialectic and Dialogue: Plato's Practice of Philosophical Inquiry was called "one of the best studies of Plato in several decades," by Choice reviewer M. Andic. In this work Gonzalez examines a subject that is almost never discussed in Plato scholarship: the philosopher's own conception of philosophy, including what it means to philosophize, and how we acquire the knowledge we seek. "Since Plato generally identifies philosophy with dialectic, Gonzalez's study is an investigation into the nature of dialectic," noted Laurel Dantzig in the Review of Metaphysics.

Gonzalez makes his points, including that Plato gives the dialectic—investigating truths and discovering fallacies through reasoned dialogue—priority over the hypothetical method, through readings of Plato's Laches, Charmides, Cratylus, Euthydemus, Meno, Phaedo, Republic, and The Seventh Letter. He also references works of contemporary scholarship in English, French, Italian, and German. Dantzig wrote that Gonzalez's readings of various dialogues "are careful and thorough, and his discussions of difficult issues, such as the Ideas and the Good, are particularly interesting and illuminating. While Gonzalez's interpretation is highly original and unorthodox, he has a good grasp on the current and not-so-current debates in Plato scholarship." Dantzig called Dialectic and Dialogue "an excellent (and uncommon) combination of scholarly rigor, insight, and originality."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Ancient Philosophy, fall, 1997, Naomi Reshotko, review of The Third Way: New Directions in Platonic Studies, p. 442; spring, 2000, Peter J. Vernezze, review of Dialectic and Dialogue: Plato's Practice of Philosophical Inquiry, p. 199.

Choice, November, 1999, M. Andic, review of Dialectic and Dialogue, p. 551.

Journal of the History of Philosophy, July, 1997, J. Angelo Corlett, review of The Third Way, p. 458; January, 2000, Rosamond Kent Sprague, review of Dialectic and Dialogue, p. 113.

Review of Metaphysics, June, 2000, Laurel Dantzig, review of Dialectic and Dialogue, p. 930.