Plato: A Complete Introduction

by Roy Jackson

Written by Dr Roy Jackson, who Senior Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire, Plato: A Complete Introduction is designed to give you everything you need to succeed, all in one place. It covers the key areas that students are expected to be confident in, outlining the basics in clear jargon-free English, and then providing added-value features like summaries of key books, and even lists of questions you might be asked in your seminar or exam.

The book uses a structure that mirrors the way Plato is taught on many university courses, with chapters including: the pre-socratics; Socrates; who was Plato?; can virtue be taught?; piety; the philosophical life; obeying the law of Athens; the Soul; knowledge as recollection; the forms; Plato's state; education and morality; Plato and art; the Later Period; Aristotle, Plato's great pupil; Neoplatonism; Plato and religion; Plato's legacy.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2016

About the author

I am a Reader in the Philosophy of Religion, teaching courses on Islam, Nietzsche, Greek philosophy, and philosophy of religion. I am particularly interested in the interaction between western philosophy and the religious claims made by Islam, which align with my view that philosophy and religion are intertwined.


Awards

University Teaching Fellowship

Awarded research grant for Learning for Sustainable Futures (LFSF) in Education
Erasmus exchange with University of Cordoba

Membership of professional bodies
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA)

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Member of the Council for the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS)

British Association for the Study of Religion (BASR)

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, concise, yet comprehensive. This book would have been invaluable to me as an Undergraduate or during my A-levels. Even for the general reader who feels, like me, that they haven't quite got to grips with Plato's ideas or who haven't read all his works but still want a more thorough understanding of his philosophy, this is a great choice.

Its success is not only in the ways each theme/idea is broken down into the crucial elements, but in the essential context given by the comparisons and contrasts made between Plato and other philosophers/thinkers. The author grounds Plato's thinking within the framework of the world he lived in, as well as what came before, and how he has been considered, reimagined, influenced others since his death. Even so, Jackson doesn't hesitate to indicate Plato's individual brilliance. Importantly, the evidence for his ideas is evaluated, always especially relevant when nothing survives written by the philosopher themselves.

The book is easy to read without feeling dumbed down and I left it believing that I had really learned something. I particularly liked the section at the end of each chapter with further reading and a small quiz, it was a great way to make sure I had retained the information I had just read and gave me something else to move on to when I discovered a particularly interesting point.


Finally, I would like to say thank you to John Murry, from whom I won this copy in a Goodreads competition.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

To date, this is my favorite introductory book on Plato. It provided a lot of material that I found helpful to better understand what I was reading throughout Plato's dialogues.

[Eric Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to the topics Plato talked about. If I want to get more out of it I will need to sit and think on the topics or talk with others more. But I'm glad I have this basis going forward.

[Matt Whitby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Exclamation marks thrown about like teenagers with emojis. The punctuation version of saying LOL, or "look what I said!" It's just so tiresome.

[Sadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found something special......
Roy Is Gooooood....