Great Dialogues of Plato

by Plato, E.H. Warmington (Editor), W.H.D. Rouse (Translator)

The Republic and other great dialogues by the immortal Greek philosopher Plato, masterpieces which form part of the most important single body of writing in the history of philosophy, are here transkated in a new and modern version. Beauty, Love, Immortality, Knowledge and Justice are discussed in these dialogues which magnificently express the glowing spirit of Platonic philosophy. Published by Mentor Books under the division of the New American Library of World Literature.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Nonfiction

525 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 1956

About the author

Plato (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."

Reviews

[Zoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is the summary of these dialogues in my language:

Ion
Socrates is preying on some ancient MC, Ion, who spits epic bars n sells out stadiums, tho his whole discography is just covers of Homer. So, the creepy old man Socrates pulls up n starts questioning whether Ion got any real skill or whether it's Jesus behind the wheel. In essence, the whole Socratic routine of tryna rob people of certainty and confidence in exchange for thinking long and hard until you are no longer long and hard. Classic Socratic shade, all about what true knowledge really is. 

Meno
Socrates tryna sneak up on Meno about whether virtue is taught or innate. Socrates flips the whole convo like he lost at monopoly, leaves Meno clueless, classic trolling. Then there's that whole "recollection" bit--Socrates saying we already know stuff, just gotta dig it out like it's minecraft. Next slide: makes a slave boy do geometry, aka we all got it in us all along, basically just Plato anticipating all that a priori knowledge shits. The whole thing is really just Socrates praying on young boys tryna flex his trolling game yet again. 

Symposium
A bunch of dudes getting progressively more wasted while dropping their takes on love. It's one of those lowkey functions where u and the homies go on a banter about love n tryna one-up each other on who can get more poetic about the ting. Socrates comes in late in the game, drops some bars about snakes and ladders except it's about how love starts shallow and levels up to something pure and absolute, etc. The whole thing is basically about grandpa turning drinking sesh into a deep dive on the essence of love, classic Socrates move. Everyone else is just tipsy and impressed. 

The Republic
Plato be bar-hopping through justice, politics, the ultimate nature of reality, and all that wild shit. Dude had a lot of foresight into the way we still deal with appearance vs reality topics today. Then u got the realm of forms shits, aka, can we get real abstract real quick? Mans out here saying there is some perfect abstract version of everything just chillin, and that really done did lay the groundwork for a lot of the theories we still mess with today. Son killed it. 

Philosopher-kings, the allegory of the cave--all that big brain stuff. Basically saying that some folk are just built different, and yeah, it's kinda elitist, but onto smth.

The Apology
Socrates out here in court defending himself, bro got no chill, dissing them Athenians for being ungrateful for his efforts at keepin them woke. Calls himself the gadfly, but really just tryna excuse his trolling schemes by gaslighting them into thinking that they need to be trolled. All in all, just Socrates being Socrates, leaving everyone uncomfortable and dropping mic-worthy lines.

Crito
The convict Socrates finally behind bars when his homie Crito pulls up tryna bust him out. Crito be like, "Bro, you gotta escape, peeps gon think ur moves are weak." But Socrates hits him back with, "Nah fam, gotta respect the laws, even if they trash." Some might say it's about staying true to your principles. Others might see a clear substance abuse pathology--old man tryna get zooted off hemlock while still tryna go down as the GOAT, which, even tho it's just some multi-layered fantasy Plato cooked up, still manages to sell. Broski Plato aint letting his PR Management certificate from Coursera go to waste.

Phaedo
Socrates getting his hemlock fix, starts trippin about the immortality of the soul. Bro really just won't admit that he copped a mad L by getting his ass into jail w his antics, so he just tryna save face w the whole "dying ain't even that deep" vibe. This really be just Plato, the lil TV-drama producer tryna kill off a character in most generous a manner. Respect. 

All in all, Plato is the sauce man, he got the sauce and he be saucing it to the moon and back, from Ion to Phaedo, issa banger after banger, and the industry is still shooketh. Bro a legend. A+

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am now more enamored of the questions and probing by Socrates and his circle than their answers and manner. The last time I read The Republic I felt for poor Cephalus for the way Socrates rudely treated him. Now in this collection of Plato's collected recollections of Socrates, I feel the same for Meno. Meno too is set up, ridiculed, and harangued until he must exit the scene, miffed surely. No wonder he ended up with such a low approval rating that he was sentenced to death. It seems from Socrates' closing arguments in his trial, he noticed how some found his behavior repugnant:

...I thought this man seemed to be wise both to many others and especially to himself, but that he was not; and then I tried to show him that he thought he was wise, but was not. Because of that he disliked me and so did many others who were there, but I went away thinking to myself that I was wiser than this man; the fact is that neither of us knows anything beautiful and good, but he thinks he does know when he doesn't, and I don't know and don't think I do: so I am wiser than he is by only this trifle, that what I do not know I don't think I do. After that I tried another, one of those reputed to be wiser than that man and I thought just the same; then he and many others took a dislike to me.
So I went to one after another after that, and saw that I was disliked; and I sorrowed and feared...

Three things that jumped out to me in this edition with excellent footnotes. First is Socrates' allusions to the voices he heard in his head and the Myth of Er. Hearing voices is a symptom of some mental health problems, including psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, or severe depression. Second is the Myth of Er, which is an account of the cosmos and the afterlife that greatly influenced religious, philosophical, and scientific thought for many centuries. It reads like an NDE hallucination. Finally is the role the Iliad and other period writings then a few centuries old were commonly quoted and taken for granted as sacred texts of religious authority.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was probably the first book of Plato's dialogs, some of them at least, which I ever owned. I believe it was purchased used from the Maine South H.S. bookstore and may actually have been read before college matriculation. Later it was replaced on the shelves by Jowett's complete, two-volume edition.

[Indah Amaritasari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dialogues of Plato basically give you the insight look of Plato thought. The cave theory explaines well the sitauation/reality of idealisme methodelogy that still exsit in this 21st century. It's quite an 'open' dialogue.

[ANM121 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a crazy fella. Highlights: 1) The absolute hitjob on Homer in Republic book 10, 2) The description of the afterlife as "ridiculous" also in book 10, 3) Way more geometry and math than you would expect throughout all the texts.

[Ledys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all, but finished "The Republic" in audiobook. It took me a while! I am not used to reading philosophy, but I am glad I read Plato.