Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Oxford University Press, USA (1993), Edition: Revised, Paperback, 136 pages
Description
The Phaedo is acknowledged to be one of Plato's masterpieces, showing him both as a philosopher and as a dramatist at the height of his powers. For its moving account of the execution of Socrates, the Phaedo ranks among the supreme literary achievements of antiquity. It is also a documentcrucial to the understanding of many ideas deeply ingrained in western culture, and provides one of the best introductions to Plato's thought. This new edition is eminently suitable for readers new to Plato, offering a readable translation which is accessible without the aid of a commentary andassumes no prior knowledge of the ancient Greek world or language.
User reviews
LibraryThing member adiasd
A typical Plato dialogue, with key philosophical questions, in this case, the attitute against death and the status of soul, interesting propositions in an easy to follow dialetics, and or course a colourful picture of the human characteres involved, especially Socrates. As for the the
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philosophical content itself, it's explored in a somewhat simplified tone, as it is also common in many Platonic dialogues. Very good and entertaining reading, altough not so deep in coverage. Show Less
LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
The introduction to this one seems related to the text only in that they're both on the same subject; it's not introducing Plato as much as it's lining up a more modern set of questions about the soul and immortality. Which is fine, as far as it goes, but it goes...all over the place. (Either that
But Plato isn't at all Christian, as is clear by the very first discussion of death being a *leaving* of the gods, rather than a going to join them. Or the cyclical nature of life and death, or the suggestion (even though rejected) that the body might sometimes outlive the soul. This is the kind of thing that's fascinating even if you disagree with it in every particular, simply because it's so *different* - and yet similar, too, in the places where Plato was used by the medieval theologians.
There's a really interesting idea to be picked out if you combine Socrates's argument about knowledge already had at birth implying the persistence of the soul and what we now know about instincts and biology (plus a rejection of Cartesian Dualism), but I don't know if anyone's done that yet.
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or it's trying to apologize that Plato isn't Christian; I'm not entirely sure which.)But Plato isn't at all Christian, as is clear by the very first discussion of death being a *leaving* of the gods, rather than a going to join them. Or the cyclical nature of life and death, or the suggestion (even though rejected) that the body might sometimes outlive the soul. This is the kind of thing that's fascinating even if you disagree with it in every particular, simply because it's so *different* - and yet similar, too, in the places where Plato was used by the medieval theologians.
There's a really interesting idea to be picked out if you combine Socrates's argument about knowledge already had at birth implying the persistence of the soul and what we now know about instincts and biology (plus a rejection of Cartesian Dualism), but I don't know if anyone's done that yet.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
Greek (Ancient)
Original publication date
c. 400 B.C.E.
Physical description
136 p.; 6.93 inches
ISBN
0192830902 / 9780192830906
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Protagoras by Plato