Plato

"The Republic is Plato's masterwork. It was written 2,400 years ago and remains one of the most widely read books in the world, famous for both the richness of its ideas and the virtuosity of its writing. Presented as a dialogue between Plato's teacher Socrates and various interlocutors, it is an exhortation to study philosophy, inviting its readers to reflect on the choices we must make if we are to live the best life available to us. This complex,...

"Plato of Athens, who laid the foundations of the Western philosophical tradition and in range and depth ranks among its greatest practitioners, was born to a prosperous and politically active family circa 427 BC. In early life an admirer of Socrates, Plato later founded the first institution of higher learning in the West, the Academy, among whose many notable alumni was Aristotle. Traditionally ascribed to Plato are thirty-five dialogues developing...

"Plato, born in 427 BCE, more or less invented philosophy as we know it. This selection from some of his greatest works, includes extracts from the Republic, Protagoras, Phaedrus and Gorgias. In the Republic Plato begins with the question, 'What is justice?' but the answer soon broadens out into an investigation of what is real and how we can know it, so defining the three main areas of philosophy -- ethics, metaphysics and epistemology -- for the...

"Socrates, born in Athens in 469BCE, spent much of his life pointing our the absurdities of current beliefs. ... Socrates left no writings of his own, yet his contribution to philosophy is immeasurable. His central argument - that goodness and truth are inseparable - is set out in these selections from his pupils Plato and Xenphon, and subjected to witty satire by the playwright Aristophanes."--P. 4 of dust cover.