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Plato : The Collected Dialogues, Including the Letters, with Introduction and Prefatory Notes
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Plato
5,313 books8,681 followersPlato (Greek: Πλάτων), born Aristocles (c. 427 – 348 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism.
Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He was decisively influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself.
Along with his teacher Socrates, and Aristotle, his student, Plato is a central figure in the history of philosophy. Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years—unlike that of nearly all of his contemporaries. Although their popularity has fluctuated, they have consistently been read and studied through the ages. Through Neoplatonism, he also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy. In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."
Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He was decisively influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself.
Along with his teacher Socrates, and Aristotle, his student, Plato is a central figure in the history of philosophy. Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years—unlike that of nearly all of his contemporaries. Although their popularity has fluctuated, they have consistently been read and studied through the ages. Through Neoplatonism, he also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy. In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."
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June 4, 2024
AN EXCELLENT COLLECTION OF ALL OF PLATO’S WORKS
Co-editor Edith Hamilton wrote the notes which precede all of the dialogues. They are translated by a variety of scholars, including classicists such as Benjamin Jowett. Here are some excerpts from selected dialogues:
APOLOGY:
Socrates says, “Chaerephon… a friend of mine… asked this question of the god [at Delphi]… whether there was anyone wiser than myself. The priestess replied that there was no one… I went to interview a man with a high reputation for wisdom, because I felt that here if anywhere I should succeed in disproving the oracle… I gave a thorough examination to this person… I formed the impression that although … he appeared to be wise, he was not… he thinks that he know something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance… it seems that I am wiser than he to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know…. It seems to me that [the oracle] … would say to us, The wisest of you men is he who has realized, like Socrates, that in respect of wisdom he is really worthless.” (Pg. 8-9; §20e-21d, 23b)
He continues, “You are mistaken … if you think that a man… ought to spend his time weighing up the prospects of life and death. He has only one thing to consider in performing any action---that is, whether he is acting rightly or wrongly., like a good man or a bad one… to be afraid of death is only another form of thinking that one is wise when one is not; it is to think that one knows what one does not know. No one knows with regard to death whether it is not really the greatest blessing that can happen to a man, but people dread it as though they were certain that it is the greatest evil…” (Pg. 14-15; §28b, 29a)
He summarizes, “examining both myself and others is really the very best thing that a man can do, and that life without this sort of examination is not worth living… I do not regret now the way in which I pleaded my case. I would much rather die as the result of this defense than live as the result of the other sort.” (Pg. 23, §38a, e)
He reflects, “Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything, or, as we are told, it is really a change---a migration of the soul from this place to another. Now if there is no consciousness but only a dreamless sleep, death must be a marvelous gain… If on the other hand death is a removal from here to some other place… and if… all the dead are there, what greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen?” (Pg. 25, §40c-e)
PHAEDO:
He argues, “So before we begin to see and hear and use our other senses we must somewhere have acquired the knowledge that there is such a thing as absolute equality. Otherwise we could never have realized… that all equal objects of sense are desirous of being like it, but are only imperfect copies… So we must have obtained it before birth… we had knowledge, both before and at the moment of birth… of all absolute standards. Our present argument applies … to absolute beauty, goodness, uprightness, holiness, and … all those characteristics which we designate … by the term ‘absolute.’ So we must have obtained knowledge of all these characteristics before our birth… what we call learning will be the recovery of our own knowledge … In other words, learning is recollection.” (Pg. 58, §75d-76a) He continues, ‘If all these absolute realities, such as beauty and goodness… really exist, if it is to them… that we refer, as copies of their patterns…” (Pg. 60, §76e) Later, he adds, “whatever else is beautiful apart from absolute beauty is beautiful because it partakes of that absolute beauty, and for no other reason.” (Pg. 81, §100c)
He suggests, “Those who on account of the greatness of their sins are judged to be incurable… are hurled by their appropriate destiny into Tartarus, from whence they emerge no more. Others are judged to have been guilty of sins which… are curable… These two must be cast into Tartarus, but when … they have remained there for a year, the surge casts them out… But those who are judged to have lived a life of surpassing holiness---these are … passing upward to their pure abode, make their dwelling upon the earth’s surface. And of these such as have purified themselves sufficiently by philosophy live thereafter altogether without bodies, and reach habitations even more beautiful… either this or something very like it is a true account of our souls and their future habitations---since we have clear evidence that the soul is immortal…” (Pg. 94, §113d-114d)
CHARMIDES:
Socrates observes, “the point is not who said the words, but whether they are true or not.” (Pg. 107, §161c)
EUTHYPHRO:
Socrates poses the question, “Is what is holy holy because the gods approve it, or do they approve it because it is holy?... is [the holy] not loved by all the gods? …it is because it is holy that it is loved; it is not holy just because they love it… So what is pleasing to the gods is not the same as what is holy… nor… is the holy the same as what is pleasing to the gods. They are two different things.” (Pg. 178-179, §10a, d)
REPUBLIC:
“Neither … could God… since he is good, be… the cause of all things… For good things are far fewer with us than evil, and for the good we must assume no other cause than God, but the cause of evil we must look for in other things and not in God… (Pg. 626, §379c)
“there is no pursuit of the administrators of a state that belongs to a woman because she is a woman or to a man because he is a man. But the natural capacities are distributed alike among both creatures, and women naturally share in all pursuits… Can we deny, then, that one woman is naturally athletic and warlike and another unwarlike and averse to gymnastics?... Then it is likewise true that one woman has the qualities of a guardian and another not. Were not these the natural qualities of the men also whom we selected for guardians?” (Pg. 694-695, §455e-456a)
“Unless… either philosophers become kings in our states of those whom we now call kings and rulers take to the pursuit of philosophy seriously and adequately, and there is a conjunction of these two things, political power and philosophical intelligence, while the motley horde of the natures who at present pursue either apart from the other are compulsorily excluded, there can be no cessation of troubles… for our states, nor… for the human race either. Nor, until this happens, will this constitution which we have been expounding in theory ever be put into practice within the limits of possibility and see the light of the sun.” (Pg. 712-713, §473d-e)
“Democracy… would… be a delightful form of government, anarchic and motley, assigning a kind of equality indiscriminately to equals and unequals alike!” (Pg.786, §558c) He adds, “in the same way in which democracy arises out of oligarchy… tyranny arises from democracy…” (Pg. 790, §562a)
Plato’s famous allegory of the cave is presented in Book VII (pg. 747-750, §514a-517e): “Picture men dwelling in a sort of subterranean cavern with a long entrance open to the light… Conceive them as … able to look forward only, and prevented by … fetters from turning their heads. Picture further the light from a fire burning higher up and at a distance behind them… [Would] these men … have seen anything of themselves or of one another except the shadows cast from the fire on the wall of the cave that fronted them?... in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects… what would be the manner of the release and healing from these bonds if … one was freed from his fetters and compelled to stand up suddenly and turn his head around and walk and to lift up his eyes to the light… what do you suppose would be his answer if someone told him that what he had seen before was all a cheat and illusion… And if… someone should drag him … by force up to the ascent … there would be need of habituation … to enable him to see the things higher up… If such a one should go down again and take his old place would he not get his eyes full of darkness, thus coming suddenly out of the sunlight?... would he not provoke laughter, and would it not be said of him that he had returned from his journey with his eyes ruined and that it was not worth while even to attempt the ascent?.... would they not kill him?... in the region of the known the last thing to be seen and hardly seen is the idea of the good, and that when seen … [we realize] this is indeed the cause for all things of all that is right and beautiful, giving birth in the visible world to light, and the author of light … being the authentic source of truth and reason.”
LAWS:
“Laws… are made in part for the virtuous---to teach them what rule they should follow … if they are to live in peace and good will---partly also for men who have shunned instruction , men whose stubborn tempers have yielded to none of those melting influences that might hold them back from utter debasement.” (Pg. 1439, §880e)
Plato’s dialogues are “must reading” for anyone studying philosophy, or the history of Greek civilization.
Co-editor Edith Hamilton wrote the notes which precede all of the dialogues. They are translated by a variety of scholars, including classicists such as Benjamin Jowett. Here are some excerpts from selected dialogues:
APOLOGY:
Socrates says, “Chaerephon… a friend of mine… asked this question of the god [at Delphi]… whether there was anyone wiser than myself. The priestess replied that there was no one… I went to interview a man with a high reputation for wisdom, because I felt that here if anywhere I should succeed in disproving the oracle… I gave a thorough examination to this person… I formed the impression that although … he appeared to be wise, he was not… he thinks that he know something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance… it seems that I am wiser than he to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know…. It seems to me that [the oracle] … would say to us, The wisest of you men is he who has realized, like Socrates, that in respect of wisdom he is really worthless.” (Pg. 8-9; §20e-21d, 23b)
He continues, “You are mistaken … if you think that a man… ought to spend his time weighing up the prospects of life and death. He has only one thing to consider in performing any action---that is, whether he is acting rightly or wrongly., like a good man or a bad one… to be afraid of death is only another form of thinking that one is wise when one is not; it is to think that one knows what one does not know. No one knows with regard to death whether it is not really the greatest blessing that can happen to a man, but people dread it as though they were certain that it is the greatest evil…” (Pg. 14-15; §28b, 29a)
He summarizes, “examining both myself and others is really the very best thing that a man can do, and that life without this sort of examination is not worth living… I do not regret now the way in which I pleaded my case. I would much rather die as the result of this defense than live as the result of the other sort.” (Pg. 23, §38a, e)
He reflects, “Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything, or, as we are told, it is really a change---a migration of the soul from this place to another. Now if there is no consciousness but only a dreamless sleep, death must be a marvelous gain… If on the other hand death is a removal from here to some other place… and if… all the dead are there, what greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen?” (Pg. 25, §40c-e)
PHAEDO:
He argues, “So before we begin to see and hear and use our other senses we must somewhere have acquired the knowledge that there is such a thing as absolute equality. Otherwise we could never have realized… that all equal objects of sense are desirous of being like it, but are only imperfect copies… So we must have obtained it before birth… we had knowledge, both before and at the moment of birth… of all absolute standards. Our present argument applies … to absolute beauty, goodness, uprightness, holiness, and … all those characteristics which we designate … by the term ‘absolute.’ So we must have obtained knowledge of all these characteristics before our birth… what we call learning will be the recovery of our own knowledge … In other words, learning is recollection.” (Pg. 58, §75d-76a) He continues, ‘If all these absolute realities, such as beauty and goodness… really exist, if it is to them… that we refer, as copies of their patterns…” (Pg. 60, §76e) Later, he adds, “whatever else is beautiful apart from absolute beauty is beautiful because it partakes of that absolute beauty, and for no other reason.” (Pg. 81, §100c)
He suggests, “Those who on account of the greatness of their sins are judged to be incurable… are hurled by their appropriate destiny into Tartarus, from whence they emerge no more. Others are judged to have been guilty of sins which… are curable… These two must be cast into Tartarus, but when … they have remained there for a year, the surge casts them out… But those who are judged to have lived a life of surpassing holiness---these are … passing upward to their pure abode, make their dwelling upon the earth’s surface. And of these such as have purified themselves sufficiently by philosophy live thereafter altogether without bodies, and reach habitations even more beautiful… either this or something very like it is a true account of our souls and their future habitations---since we have clear evidence that the soul is immortal…” (Pg. 94, §113d-114d)
CHARMIDES:
Socrates observes, “the point is not who said the words, but whether they are true or not.” (Pg. 107, §161c)
EUTHYPHRO:
Socrates poses the question, “Is what is holy holy because the gods approve it, or do they approve it because it is holy?... is [the holy] not loved by all the gods? …it is because it is holy that it is loved; it is not holy just because they love it… So what is pleasing to the gods is not the same as what is holy… nor… is the holy the same as what is pleasing to the gods. They are two different things.” (Pg. 178-179, §10a, d)
REPUBLIC:
“Neither … could God… since he is good, be… the cause of all things… For good things are far fewer with us than evil, and for the good we must assume no other cause than God, but the cause of evil we must look for in other things and not in God… (Pg. 626, §379c)
“there is no pursuit of the administrators of a state that belongs to a woman because she is a woman or to a man because he is a man. But the natural capacities are distributed alike among both creatures, and women naturally share in all pursuits… Can we deny, then, that one woman is naturally athletic and warlike and another unwarlike and averse to gymnastics?... Then it is likewise true that one woman has the qualities of a guardian and another not. Were not these the natural qualities of the men also whom we selected for guardians?” (Pg. 694-695, §455e-456a)
“Unless… either philosophers become kings in our states of those whom we now call kings and rulers take to the pursuit of philosophy seriously and adequately, and there is a conjunction of these two things, political power and philosophical intelligence, while the motley horde of the natures who at present pursue either apart from the other are compulsorily excluded, there can be no cessation of troubles… for our states, nor… for the human race either. Nor, until this happens, will this constitution which we have been expounding in theory ever be put into practice within the limits of possibility and see the light of the sun.” (Pg. 712-713, §473d-e)
“Democracy… would… be a delightful form of government, anarchic and motley, assigning a kind of equality indiscriminately to equals and unequals alike!” (Pg.786, §558c) He adds, “in the same way in which democracy arises out of oligarchy… tyranny arises from democracy…” (Pg. 790, §562a)
Plato’s famous allegory of the cave is presented in Book VII (pg. 747-750, §514a-517e): “Picture men dwelling in a sort of subterranean cavern with a long entrance open to the light… Conceive them as … able to look forward only, and prevented by … fetters from turning their heads. Picture further the light from a fire burning higher up and at a distance behind them… [Would] these men … have seen anything of themselves or of one another except the shadows cast from the fire on the wall of the cave that fronted them?... in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects… what would be the manner of the release and healing from these bonds if … one was freed from his fetters and compelled to stand up suddenly and turn his head around and walk and to lift up his eyes to the light… what do you suppose would be his answer if someone told him that what he had seen before was all a cheat and illusion… And if… someone should drag him … by force up to the ascent … there would be need of habituation … to enable him to see the things higher up… If such a one should go down again and take his old place would he not get his eyes full of darkness, thus coming suddenly out of the sunlight?... would he not provoke laughter, and would it not be said of him that he had returned from his journey with his eyes ruined and that it was not worth while even to attempt the ascent?.... would they not kill him?... in the region of the known the last thing to be seen and hardly seen is the idea of the good, and that when seen … [we realize] this is indeed the cause for all things of all that is right and beautiful, giving birth in the visible world to light, and the author of light … being the authentic source of truth and reason.”
LAWS:
“Laws… are made in part for the virtuous---to teach them what rule they should follow … if they are to live in peace and good will---partly also for men who have shunned instruction , men whose stubborn tempers have yielded to none of those melting influences that might hold them back from utter debasement.” (Pg. 1439, §880e)
Plato’s dialogues are “must reading” for anyone studying philosophy, or the history of Greek civilization.
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