Table Of ContentAn 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
