Plato's Works

Plato's Works

In his works, Plato writes about truth, justice, and reality in full detail. His ideas are greatly deep and persuasively argued. It is from him that all western philosophy is a footnote. He describes his view in a series of numerous dialogues. For my report, I have chosen four of his works to study, which I think were his most important.

"The Republic" is a dialogue composed of 10 books. The theme in its entirety is justice. The characters of the dialogue are Socrates, who is the narrator; Glaucon and Adeimantus, brothers of Plato; Cephalus, a rich old man; Polemarchus, son of Plato; Thrasymachus, a Sophist; and Cleitophon. The dialogue takes place in the house of Cephalus.

Book I of "The Republic" deals with the nature of justice. It shows the widest variety of detail and avoids skeletel simplicty. It tells life is complex and theory is no substitue for it. Book I starts off with Polemarchus saying justice is obedience to some kind of principle. Socrates counters with the fact that justice involves an act of evaluation and the creation of evil. Thrasymachus enters the argument and says justice is nothing but the interest of the stronger, injustice can gain more than justice. Socrates ends the book by saying injustice destroys individuals and states.

In Book II, Glaucon joins the argument. Glaucon says what men want is to commit injustices and get away with them. He says justice is not a good, but a lesser evil. Adeimantus backs him up by saying justice is pushed only for success, thus defeating justice. Socrates counters indirectly, but saves his true reponse till later in "The Republic." He says men will form a state from necessity. This state will eventually fight a war and soldiers will be needed. T...

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.... New York : The H.W. Wilson Company, 1980.

Hare, R.M. Plato. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1982.

Melling, David. Understanding Plato. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1987.

Plato. Euthyphro, Apology, Crito. Trans. F.J. Church. New York : Macmillan/Library of Liberal Arts, 1989.

Plato. Five Dialogues. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Cambridge : Hackett Publishing Company, 1981.

Plato. Gorgias. Trans. James H. Nichols. Boston : Cornell University Printing, 1996.

Plato. The Republic. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. New York : The Modern Library, 1983.

Plato. The Trial and Death of Socrates. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Cambridge : Hackett Publishing Company, 1975.

Plato. The Works of Plato. Trans. Irwin Edman. New York : The Modern Library, 1983.

Row, C.J. Plato. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1984.

Strathern, Paul. Plato in 90 Minutes. Chicago : Ivan R. Dee, 1996.