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Just got my "Plato: Complete Works" book! I will now be able to finish reading Phaedrus that I started with my professor during school. I'm rereading Symposium first though :D
8 months ago · 👍 deerbard, arman
@krixano Thx for all the info! · 8 months ago
@deerbard Another thing :D
When reading Plato, you have to remember that the writer (Plato) constructs the *whole* dialogue, including what every character says and does and how each responds to each other. Plato almost never enters into the dialogue/story as himself. Instead, he enters into the dialogue by how he constructs the movement of the whole dialogue.
This means he might have his own opinions embedded in some of the characters (many think it's usually Socrates he does this with, but there could be some dialogues where he meant to criticize Socrates). The way I read them is they are primarily to get you to think, not to just accept everything one character says. · 8 months ago
@deerbard Also, the Symposium does make one very small allusion to the World of Forms and has the idea of Platonic Love in it. It also has a pretty good explanation of the societal expectations of how love and dating and homoeroticism is carried out in Greek culture at the time.
I would also recommend getting a translation that has notes because the dialogues make frequent mention of Greek mythology, Greek stories (the Odyssey and Illiad especially), historical people, etc. That and notes will usually tell you what a greek name (like Eros) would mean/translate to, etc. · 8 months ago
@deerbard I haven't read a ton of Plato yet, but I started with the Symposium, since it's simple and short and fun to read with some of the snarkiness and drama and mythology that is incorporated into it. However, it's mostly about what is Love (the Greek god Eros).
The Apology is also very short - it's Plato's defense (apology in greek) of Socrates through a non-historical (although history-inspired) story of what Socrates said at his trial. I would probably recommend reading another dialogue of Plato's before this one only because you need to see how Socrates typically questions people and behaves to understand where he is coming from in his trial. · 8 months ago
@krixano Oh! You can mention here and get notifications! Wow. I was wondering how would I know somebody replied not under my own post. Thx. I would not be able to read it in English anyways. But what would you recommend for first read from Plato? I'm interested in morality, ethics and how to call it, the ultimate questions :) · 8 months ago
@krixano Congratulations!! Hope you get to enjoy studying the corpus for a pleasant lengthy time.
(You have excellent taste btw 👌) · 8 months ago
@deerbard About 1700 pages. It includes all of the works both written by him and traditionally ascribed to him, as well as his Letters and Epigrams. I got the Hackett one. · 8 months ago
Whole Plato in one book? How big is it? · 8 months ago
100% agree with marginalia. I read half Plato's book and most literally change a lot my way of thinking many topics…
Enjoy the reading! · 8 months ago
Oh man, congrats. I don't think anything has made lasting changes to my thinking the same way Plato has. · 8 months ago
I bought the first three volumes as part of my BA in philosophy, and bought the 2 extra volumes with the letters about a year ago. It takes one year per volume if I read before bed and try to understand the logic of each argument :( · 8 months ago