Plato: Complete Works

I ordered Plato, Complete Works as a gift for someone and instead received a cheap version of "Wicked". No similarities at all. Can people not read? After all, this is a book-selling business. Passed up other good books/offers for this. Would like full refund.

This Bantam Classics edition presents, through translations by different sources, eight of Plato's "early" dialogues, all involving Socrates, his apotheosized master. Written in the form of question-and-answer sessions, these dialogues profile a man in a continuous quest for the truth, even when he is awaiting his execution, and demonstrate a particular system of gathering information and building knowledge, a system that is nothing less than the foundation of Western thought. The oracle at Delphi stated that Socrates was the wisest of men because he knew that his wisdom was paltry -- unlike the Sophists, who not only thought they could teach things like virtue and "excellence" to the youth of Athens but also charged money for their tutelage. Since Socrates admits to knowing nothing, he gains all his knowledge through inquiry, deferring to his interlocutors' presumed knowledge, often using sarcasm with the Sophists. His questions commonly use logic of the form "If A is the same as B and B is the opposite of C, isn't A the opposite of C?" Socrates saw himself as a "gadfly" to Athenian society, always seeking truth -- an absolute truth, as opposed to the moral relativism taught by the Sophists and practiced by the Athenians. His basic interest was inquiring of the way a man should live his life, one conclusion being that to suffer is better than to cause suffering, since the immortal soul is judged constantly by the gods. Some of the arguments might seem specious to the modern reader, but the importance of reading the dialogues is not necessarily to agree with any particular argument presented but to observe an intensely systematic and organized method of gaining knowledge through interrogatory dialogue. First-hand experience tells me that asking and answering questions is a better way to learn than listening to a one-sided lecture, and reading Plato's Socratic recollections confirms my opinion.

Unfortunately, the public school system of America has eradicated all courses relative to developing a student's ability to reason, and reason well. Rhetoric,and the 'Socratic Method' were essential parts of a collegiate student's curriculum in medieval Europe, and the universities of America would not be remiss in re-introducing this dynamic type of verbal intercourse today.

I am not a classical scholar, just a person that is interested in people and trying to learn about the world around me. I read the Histories, the Pelopponesian Wars and I believe I am getting some idea of the world of the time. I knew I could not really understand the influence the Greeks had on subsequent civilizations without digging into Plato.So, I looked around and found this book, which is more that 1,000 pages. It has different translators and he says that he is trying to make Plato as alive for the 21st Century as he has been for the last 24 centuries. That sounded promising. I took it home and wondered if I should read it like a novel or just hit the high points. I had no idea what was what.Fortunately, the introduction to this book proved to be a wonderful road map to the volume, with insight on how to read it. I have found that following the guidence the book is actually fun. As an adult, I have heard so many of the issues reaised throughout my life, it is pretty cool to have them reduced to their essence. We all know that everyone should read Plato and he is the most important philosopher and all that, but there's a lot of stuff I "should" read that is too tedious. This book turned out to be compelling and once I got started something I wanted to read and not just something I was reading because I "should".

This is the best translation of Plato in English. First and foremost, it is the first and only COMPLETE English translation of Plato's works in the 20th century. All other anthologies have left out some works. Second, the individual translations are of high quality (some of the translations in other anthologies are a bit creaky). Third, the introduction and notes are extremely useful. This book is a godsend to me, since I teach courses on Plato and now no longer have to rely on previous, seriously flawed anthologies. This translation of Plato will be the definitive one for some time to come. It supersedes all other editions.

If you are an amateur philosopher like me, this is a great book to start. Surprisingly it is easy to read!!! At the beginning looks boring, but when you start feeling the taste of it, you will LOVE it.