Annoted Cover 2010-full-correct spine.indd - Penguin Group

plato
c. 427 – c. 347 b.c., greek
The Portable Plato
Edited with an Introduction by
Scott Buchanan
This collection brings together
Plato’s most important dialogues and
monumental works of philosophy,
including Protagoras, Symposium, Phaedo,
and The Republic.
704 pp. 978-0-14-015040-7 $18.00
Early Socratic Dialogues
Edited with an Introduction by
Trevor J. Saunders
Rich in drama and humor, seven dialogues
provide a definitive portrait of Socrates’s
thought and times. The selection includes
Ion, Laches, Lysis, Charmides, Hippias
Major, Hippias Minor, and Euthydemus.
400 pp. 978-0-14-045503-8 $14.00
188 penguin classics
Gorgias
Translated by Walter Hamilton and
Chris Emlyn-Jones
Introduction, Commentary, and Notes by
Chris Emlyn-Jones
Though Gorgias was a teacher of oratory,
this dialogue is more concerned with
ethics than with the art of public speaking.
208 pp. 978-0-14-044904-4 $9.00
The Last Days of Socrates
Euthyphro/The Apology/Crito/Phaedo
Translated by Hugh Tredennick
and Harold Tarrant with an Introduction
and Notes by Harold Tarrant
The four superb Platonic dialogues
that form the classic account of the
trial and death of Socrates—Euthyphro,
The Apology, Crito, and Phaedo—have
almost as central a place in Western consciousness
as the trial and death of Jesus.
256 pp. 978-0-14-044928-0 $13.00
Great Books Foundation Readers Guide Available
plato
Plato was born into a noble Athenian family that was engaged in politics.
Disturbed by the endemic political violence and corruption in Athens, and by
the execution of his mentor, Socrates, on charges of impiety and corruption of
youth in 399 b.c., Plato turned from the life of politics to philosophy. Plato wrote
his famous dialogues, including The Republic, to interpret Socratic philosophy,
using the character of Socrates to espouse his own views. Plato held that abstract
concepts such as “good” are absolute and must be understood in order to be
experienced. He returned to Athens around 387 b.c. and founded the Academy in
Athens—the prototypical Western university, featuring philosophy, mathematics,
astronomy, and natural history—in order to train “philosopher-kings.” Aristotle
was one of his students. Lasting for almost one thousand years, the Academy was
suppressed by the Emperor Justinian in a.d. 529.