Plato

''Some of our greatest blessings come from madnessPhaedrus is widely recognized as one of Plato''s most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus and its ostensible subject is love, especially homoerotic love. Socrates reveals it to be a kind of divine madness that can allow our souls to grow wings and soar to their greatest heights. Then the conversation changes direction and turns to a discussion of rhetoric, which must be based on truth passionately sought, thus allying it to philosophy. The dialogue closes by denigrating the value of the written word in any context, compared to the living teaching of a Socratic philosopher.The shifts of topic and register have given rise to doubts about the unity of the dialogue, doubts which are addressed in the introduction to this volume. Full explanatory notes also elucidate issues throughout the dialogue that might puzzle a modern reader. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Explore the nature of love in this charming new translation of selections from Plato’s great dramatic work, the SymposiumWhat is love? In poetry, songs, fiction, movies, psychology, and philosophy, love has been described, admired, lamented, and dissected in endless ways. Is love based on physical attraction? Does it bring out our better selves? How does it relate to sex? Is love divine? Plato’s Symposium is one of the oldest, most influential, and most profound explorations of such questions—it is even the source of the idea of “Platonic love.” How to Talk about Love introduces and presents the key passages and central ideas of Plato’s philosophical dialogue in a lively and highly readable new translation, which also features the original Greek on facing pages. The Symposium is set at a fictional drinking party during which prominent Athenians engage in a friendly competition by delivering improvised speeches in praise of Eros, the Greek god of love and sex. The aristocrat Phaedrus, the legal expert Pausanias, the physician Eryximachus, the comic playwright Aristophanes, and the tragic poet Agathon—each by turn celebrates different aspects of love before Socrates proposes not to praise love but to tell the truth about it. In the final speech, the politician and libertine Alcibiades argues that Socrates himself is the epitome of love. Deftly capturing the essence and spirit of Plato’s masterpiece, How to Talk about Love makes the Symposium more accessible and enjoyable than ever before.

Audiobook 100 Quotes by Plato. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." Plato is indeed considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle.

Audiobook 600 Quotes of Ancient Philosophy: Confucius, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle. Become familiar with the most important ancient philosophers, those who shaped Western philosophy. Delve deep into their works and thoughts with a selection of the essential quotes introducing their major ideas and delineating the structure of their work with clarity.

Plato's Republic has influenced Western philosophers for centuries, with its main focus on what makes a well-balanced society and individual.

In The Republic Socrates is asked the question ‘What is justice?’ And in order to answer it, he draws a long and detailed analogy between the individual and the city. Plato’s work forms the foundation of Western philosophy and covers a wide range of topics including political theory and ethics, with extended digressions into artistic and literary criticism, the theory and practice of education as well as epistemology and metaphysics.

The "Republic" poses questions that endure: What is justice? What form of community fosters the best possible life for human beings? What is the nature and destiny of the soul? What form of education provides the best leaders for a good republic? What are the various forms of poetry and the other arts, which ones should be fostered, and which ones should be discouraged? How does knowing differ from believing? Several characters in the dialogue present a variety of tempting answers to those questions.

A dialogue between Socrates and Meno probes the subject of ethics. Can goodness be taught? If it can, then we should be able to find teachers capable of instructing others about what is good and bad, right and wrong, or just and unjust. Socrates and Meno are unable to identify teachers of ethics, and we are left wondering how such knowledge could be acquired.

Gorgias of Leontini, a famous teacher of rhetoric, has come to Athens to recruit students, promising to teach them how to become leaders in politics and business. A group has gathered at Callicles' house to hear Gorgias demonstrate the power of his art. This dialogue blends comic and serious discussion of the best life, providing a penetrating examination of ethics.

Socrates is on trial for his life. He is charged with impiety and corrupting young people. He presents his own defense, explaining why he has devoted his life to challenging the most powerful and important people in the Greek world. The reason is that rich and famous politicians, priests, poets, and a host of others pretend to know what is good, true, holy, and beautiful, but when Socrates questions them they are shown to be foolish rather than wise.

Perception, memory, truth, and knowledge all play major roles in this dialogue. What is remarkable about Plato’s treatment of those ideas is how contemporary are both the questions and the answers he puts in the mouths of his characters. Socrates is adamant in asserting that he does not know the answers but that his function is simply to help formulate and critically examine the doctrines presented by others.

Socrates is in prison, sentenced to die when the sun sets. In this final conversation, he asks what will become of him once he drinks the poison prescribed for his execution. Socrates and his friends examine several arguments designed to prove that the soul is immortal. This quest leads him to the broader topic of the nature of mind and its connection not only to human existence but also to the cosmos itself.

Laches, a general in the Athenian army, saw Socrates fight bravely in the battle of Delium. When he and Nicias, another general, are asked to explain the idea of courage, they are at a loss and words fail them. How does courage differ from thoughtless and reckless audacity? Can a lion be said to be courageous? What about small children who have little idea of the dangers they face? Should we call people courageous who do not know whether their bravery will produce good or bad consequences? What kind of education and training promotes both courage and goodness in people, whether they are young or old? Plato constantly presents courage as an essential quality for all who seek to live a good life, so what does it mean when even the bravest leaders of Athens cannot tell us what courage really is?.

In Euthyphro, Socrates is on his way to the court where he must defend himself against serious charges brought by religious and political authorities. On the way, he meets Euthyphro, an expert on religious matters, who has come to prosecute his own father. Socrates questions Euthyphro’s claim that religion serves as the basis for ethics.

The dramatic nature of Plato’s dialogues is delightfully evident in the "Symposium. " The marriage between character and thought bursts forth as the guests gather at Agathon’s house to celebrate the success of his first tragedy. With wit and insight, they each present their ideas about love — from Erixymachus’s scientific naturalism to Aristophanes’ comic fantasy.

Plato’s dialogues frequently cover several topics and show their connection to each other. The "Phaedrus" is a model of that skill because of its seamless progression from examples of speeches about the nature of love to mythical visions of human nature and destiny to the essence of beauty and, finally, to a penetrating discussion of speaking and writing.