Copious Corruption. "The Philosophy of Sir William Mitchell (1861-1962): A Mind's Own Place" by W. Martin Davies and "Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia" by James Franklin. [review]

Abstract

Sex had nothing to do with Socrates’ conviction, though that is not James Franklin’s view. In his new book, "Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy", he says that the charge that provides the main title of the book is 'absolutely true'. Socrates, he thinks, sexually corrupted the youth. There is no shortage of argument in W. Martin Davies's "The Philosophy of Sir William Mitchell". It is a book for specialists. Sensitive to idealist concerns, deeply interested in science, Mitchell is as remarkable for the range of influences he absorbed as for an originality that in many ways is discernible only now against the backdrop of contemporary developments.