Plato

Republic, by Plato, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies of contemporary historical,...

Plato's "Meno" is a Socratic dialogue between the two main speakers, Socrates and Meno, and explores the definition of virtue and whether it is something that can be taught. Meno is an attractive and well-to-do young man visiting Athens and is a student of the sophist Gorgias, who has greatly influenced Meno's ideas on virtue and knowledge. The dialogue begins abruptly with a question posed by Meno, who asks Socrates whether virtue can be taught....

The last of the "dialogues" by the Greek philosopher and mathematician Plato, this meditation on the nature of culture contains much that sounds outmoded to modern ears---such as discussions on slavery and the proper place of women---yet it remains an insightful examination of questions that continue to trouble us today... -- Publisher.

A classic work of ancient Greek literature from Plato, one of the most famous of all ancient Greek philosophers, the "Phaedo" is the moving story of the last moments of Socrates life as recounted by Phaedo, a student of Socrates and a first-hand witness to his final hours. "Phaedo" is the fourth and last dialogue by Plato of Socrates final days, following "Euthyphro", "Apology", and "Crito". In "Phaedo" we see the famous philosopher in his last hours...

Plato's "Protagoras" is a series of debates or arguments between Socrates and the elderly Protagoras, who was a well-known Sophist. Socrates was deeply critical of the Sophists, who were teachers or wise men who charged money for educating students and dispensing wisdom. He believed them to be corrupt and dangerous men, who could lead their pupils astray. In Plato's dialogue, Socrates challenges Protagoras and his beliefs in front of an audience of...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Plato's ambitious dialogue Timaeus and the unfinished Critias were meant to be part of a trilogy that would outline a proper and sufficiently detailed natural philosophy and cosmology. The Timaeus is Plato's spirited response to the cosmogony and physics of the "atheist" Atomist philosophers Leucippus and Democritus. The Critias presents what might be a famous Platonic...

The Dialogues of Plato, written between 427 and 347 b.c., rank among the most important and influential works in Western thought. Most famous are the first four, in which Plato casts his teacher Socrates as the central disputant in colloquies that brilliantly probe a vast spectrum of philosophical ideas and issues. Socrates' ancient words are still true, and the ideas found in Plato's Dialogues still form the foundation of a thinking person's education....

In the Meno, Anytus had parted from Socrates with the significant words: 'That in any city, and particularly in the city of Athens, it is easier to do men harm than to do them good;' and Socrates was anticipating another opportunity of talking with him. In the Euthyphro, Socrates is awaiting his trial for impiety. But before the trial begins, Plato would like to put the world on their trial, and convince them of ignorance in that very matter touching...

"Theaetetus" is a dialogue by Plato from his middle period, written sometime around 369 BC. It is widely considered to be one of his best works and remains a significant contribution to the philosophy of knowledge. The work is framed as a dialogue between Socrates and a promising, but humble, young geometry student named Theaetetus. In one of the most well-known scenes in Plato's dialogues, Socrates discusses his method for eliciting thoughtful discussion...

The "Sophist" is a Platonic dialogue from the philosopher's late period, most likely written in 360 BC. Its main theme is to identify what a sophist is and how a sophist differs from a philosopher and statesman. Because each seems distinguished by a particular form of knowledge, the dialogue continues some of the lines of inquiry pursued in the epistemological dialogue, Theaetetus, which is said to have taken place the day before. Because the Sophist...