An Annotated Plato Reader PDF
Preview An Annotated Plato Reader
An Annotated Plato Reader PLATO An Annotated Plato Reader Clitophon Meno Euthyphro Apology Crito Phaedo Edited by Geoffrey S. Bowe and K. Darcy Otto (cid:13)c Copyright Info Contents Contents i Preface 1 Introduction 2 Clitophon: Introduction 8 Clitophon 15 Meno: Introduction 21 Meno 28 Euthyphro: Introduction 67 Euthyphro 72 Apology: Introduction 91 Apology 97 Crito: Introduction 126 Crito 132 Phaedo: Introduction 148 Phaedo 155 Index 225 i Preface Theprimaryaimofthetextistoofferagreatdealofprosopographical,cultural, and contextual detail about the people, places and cultural landscape in which PlatosituatesSocrates. OvertimetheAnglo-Americanfocusonargumentation in Plato has led to the erosion of contemporary knowledge of contextual details, details that inform and nuance what is being said in the dialogues. Assessing the arguments stripped of context has led to an erosion of our understanding the intent of Plato’s dialogues. Debra Nails’s The People of Plato1 has brought this issue into sharp relief, and the translations and annotations contained in the present volume owe a great deal to her work, both in terms of the wealth of learned information she provides, and indeed in providing an impetus for this project in the first place. 1Nails, The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics,” Hackett 2002. 1 Introduction Life of Plato What we know of Plato’s life is drawn primarily from biographies that are considered unreliable, but likely contain some truth. Plato was born in 427 BCE, to Ariston and Perictione, and died in 347 BCE. One of four siblings, Plato traced his lineage to the last king of Athens through his father, and to Solon (an important poet and political reformer) through his mother. Lineage aside, Plato’s family was also one of the most distinguished in Athens, with strong political connexions. There is evidence that as a young man, Plato travelled to Italy and Egypt (the latter was “ancient” even to the ancient Greeks). Around the age of forty, Plato founded what would become his life’s work: the Academy. The Academy was the first institution of higher learning in the Western world, and educated many prominent intellectuals, including Aristotle. This school endured until 529 CE when Justinian I of Byzantium placed the school under state control, on the grounds that it was a threat to the propagation of Christianity. For twenty years following his founding of the Academy, Plato was engaged as a leader, researcher and teacher. Then, at the age of sixty, if the Letters ascribed to Plato are genuine and can be trusted, Plato is invited to Sicily to instruct the young leader of Syracuse, Dionysius II. It is likely that Plato saw in Dionysius the opportunity to bring a knowledge of science and philosophy to someone who had absolute authority. The scheme lasted a few months and eventually foundered; whether because of Dionysius’ feeble mind, or Plato’s unrealistic expectations, or the vagaries of Dionysius’ court, we do not know. After his Syracusan expedition, Plato returns to the Academy, and remains in Athens until his death. Aside from the claims of the biographers, and the possibly more reliable claims we can draw from Plato’s own Letters, we know two things about Plato from his dialogues: that he was present at the trial of Socrates (Apology, 38b), 3 4 and that he was not present at Socrates’ death (Phaedo, 59b). Writings Tradition ascribes to Plato thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters. We think we have everything Plato published, and then some (which is to say, modern scholars doubt the authenticity of at least some of these works). Although we do not, for the most part, know with any certainty when the dialogues were written, or whether they were revised years after they were written, the usual approach is to divide them into three rough categories: early, middle and late. The early dialogues are largely Socratic in character, which is to say that Socrates is the central character, and the discussion typically revolves around an ethical question (for example, what is piety?). Socrates’ interlocutor usually makes some sort of knowledge-claim (declaring himself to be an expert on the subject), and Socrates then proceeds to show up the interlocutor as not knowingwhatheistalkingabout. Throughoutthediscussion,Socratesdoesnot provide any answers to the question he is asking, although he sometimes offers suggestions. The dialogues that belong to this period include the Euthyphro (what is piety?), Charmides (what is temperance?), Laches (what is courage?), Lysis (what is friendship?). The Apology and Crito are also considered early. The middle dialogues are markedly different from the early dialogues, in that the character of Socrates starts to provide answers to questions. Here, we find the Theory of Recollection (learning is recollecting what the immortal soul already knows), and the Theory of Forms (universals are unchanging essences that are perceived by the mind), and other positive doctrines relating to the state, the nature of knowledge, and natural philosophy. Even though Socrates is still the central character, it is generally agreed that the views he expounds are not those of the historical Socrates, but those of Plato. The dialogues belonging to this period include the four great dialogues for which Plato is justifiably famous: the Phaedo, the Republic, the Symposium, the Phaedrus. In these works, Plato portrays Socrates as grappling not just with ethical questions, but also with political, social, epistemological and metaphysical questions. The late dialogues depart from the middle period in two important ways: first, the Theory of Forms falls into the background; and second, Socrates is often not the primary speaker (though Socrates is present in all of them). The Parmenides, which begins the late period, is on the face of it a scathing attack on the Theory of Forms. Forms seem to disappear completely from the Theaetetus, and are either absent or in another guise in the other dialogues
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