Phaedrus'Some of our greatest blessings come from madness Phaedrus 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. |
Contents
| ix | |
Note on the Text | l |
Select Bibliography | li |
PHAEDRUS | 1 |
Explanatory Notes | 76 |
Textual Notes | 106 |
| 107 | |
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Common terms and phrases
able actually already ancient argue argument aspect Athens beauty become beloved better body Cambridge charioteer clear completely concerned context course criticism described desire dialectic dialogue discussion divine division earth educational especially experience expertise fact feel follows force Forms gain give given gods goes Gorgias Greek happen heard horse human important kind knowledge less living look lover Lysias madness means memory mention mind myth nature never non-lover once orator Oxford palinode passion perhaps person persuasion Phaedrus philosophy Plato Plato's Phaedrus pleasure possessed possible praise probably question reason reference relationship Republic rhetoric seems sense single Socrates someone soul speaking speech story suggests suppose talking tell things thought tion topic translated true truth turn understand University Press whole wings writing written Zeus