Review of J. Moline, "Plato's theory of understanding

The Introduction to this book promises a " synoptic" (p. xi; cf. p. 183) account of Plato's concept (£moi;f]UT|), which Prof. Moline says is the "central integrating concept" of Plato's dialogues (p. ix). The term "synoptic" here appears to mean that the book treats and links problems in such areas as epistemology, psychology, and politics (p. xi). In claiming to be thus synoptic, the book purports to depart from a supposed recent "orthodoxy," allegedly a "by-product of the verificationism which was so prominent in Anglo-American Philosophy; from the 1930s through the mid-1960s" (p. x). According to Prof. Moline, this orthodoxy makes "the orthodox interpreter...favor reading Plato's treatment of each of those problems or areas of inquiry as selfcontained and independent of one another, much as they probably would have been in the work of later verificationist philosophers" (p. xi).