Reading Plato (Google eBook)

Thomas A. Szlezák

Routledge, Feb 25, 1999 - Philosophy - 160 pages

Reading Plato offers a concise and illuminating insight into the complexities and difficulties of the Platonic dialogues, providing an invaluable text for any student of Plato's philosophy.
Taking as a starting point the critique of writing in the Phaedrus -- where Socrates argues that a book cannot choose its reader nor can it defend itself against misinterpretation -- Reading Plato offers solutions to the problems of interpreting the dialogues. In this ground-breaking book, Thomas A. Szlezak persuasively argues that the dialogues are designed to stimulate philosophical enquiry and to elevate philosophy to the realm of oral dialectic.

Contents

• The joy of reading Plato: 1
• The reader participares: 4
• An example of individual reception: 6
• Possible mistaken attitudes on the part of the reader: 9
• One does not see what one does not know: 12
• Characretistics of the Platonic dialogues: 18
• Questions about the characretistics: 20
• For whom is Plato writing?: 25
• Does a Platonic dialogue speak with several voices? The modern theory of the dialogues: 28
• An ancient theory of inrerpretation: 33
• The inrerpretation of Simonides in the Protagoras: 36
• The critique of writing in the Phaedrus: 39
• The definition of the philosopher based on: 47
• The meaning of TijucoTepa: 51
• Support for the Logos in the dialogues: 55
• The ascent to the principles and the limirs of philosophical communication: 61
• Some gaps: 66
• The doctrine of anamnesis and dialectic in the Euthydemus: 76
• The importance of the allusions for reading Plato: 79
• Some examples: 85
• lrony: 94
• Myth: 96
• Monologue and dialogue with imaginary partners: 100
• What they really mean: 103
• How and why the dialogueform has been misunderstood: 109
• The difference between esoreticism and secrecy: 113
• Platos concept of philosophy and the objectives of the dialogues: 116
• Notes: 120
• Bihliography: 128
• lndex of passagescited: 131
• Biographical note: 137

About the author

Thomas A. Szlezák is Professor of Greek Philology at the University of Tubingen, Germany. He is the author of numerous books on Plato.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Reading Plato
• Author: Thomas A. Szlezák
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Routledge, 1999
• ISBN: 0203981006, 9780203981009
• Length: 160 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / General