SOPHIST   By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. SOPHIST INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. The dramatic power of the dialogues of Plato appears to diminish as the metaphysical interest of them increases (compare Introd. to the Philebus). There are no descriptions of time, place or persons, in the Sophist and Statesman, but we […]

PROTAGORAS   By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION. PROTAGORAS INTRODUCTION. The Protagoras, like several of the Dialogues of Plato, is put into the mouth of Socrates, who describes a conversation which had taken place between himself and the great Sophist at the house of Callias—’the man who had spent more upon the Sophists […]

PHILEBUS   By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. PHILEBUS INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. The Philebus appears to be one of the later writings of Plato, in which the style has begun to alter, and the dramatic and poetical element has become subordinate to the speculative and philosophical. In the development of abstract […]

PHAEDRUS By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett ——————————————————————————– Contents INTRODUCTION. PHAEDRUS ——————————————————————————– INTRODUCTION. The Phaedrus is closely connected with the Symposium, and may be regarded either as introducing or following it. The two Dialogues together contain the whole philosophy of Plato on the nature of love, which in the Republic and in the later writings […]

PHAEDO   By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION. PHAEDO INTRODUCTION. After an interval of some months or years, and at Phlius, a town of Peloponnesus, the tale of the last hours of Socrates is narrated to Echecrates and other Phliasians by Phaedo the ‘beloved disciple.’ The Dialogue necessarily takes the form of a […]

PARMENIDES   By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. PARMENIDES INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. The awe with which Plato regarded the character of ‘the great’ Parmenides has extended to the dialogue which he calls by his name. None of the writings of Plato have been more copiously illustrated, both in ancient and modern […]

  MENO   by Plato   Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION. ON THE IDEAS OF PLATO. MENO INTRODUCTION. This Dialogue begins abruptly with a question of Meno, who asks, ‘whether virtue can be taught.’ Socrates replies that he does not as yet know what virtue is, and has never known anyone who did. ‘Then […]

MENEXENUS   by Plato (see Appendix I)   Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents APPENDIX I. MENEXENUS INTRODUCTION. PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates and Menexenus. APPENDIX I. It seems impossible to separate by any exact line the genuine writings of Plato from the spurious. The only external evidence to them which is of much value is […]

LYSIS   By Plato   Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION. LYSIS, OR FRIENDSHIP PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE INTRODUCTION. No answer is given in the Lysis to the question, ‘What is Friendship?’ any more than in the Charmides to the question, ‘What is Temperance?’ There are several resemblances in the two Dialogues: the same youthfulness […]

LACHES OR COURAGE   By Plato   Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION. LACHES, OR COURAGE. PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: INTRODUCTION. Lysimachus, the son of Aristides the Just, and Melesias, the son of the elder Thucydides, two aged men who live together, are desirous of educating their sons in the best manner. Their own education, […]