| © 1996 Bernard SUZANNE | Last updated June 21, 2022 |
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Plato and his dialogues : Home
- Biography - Works and
links to them - History
of interpretation - New hypotheses - Map
of dialogues : table version or non
tabular version. Tools : Index of persons
and locations - Detailed and synoptic
chronologies - Maps of Ancient Greek World.
Site information : About the author - Map
of the site |
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Plato and his dialoguesby Bernard SUZANNE |
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| "The safest general characterization
of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato" A. N. Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929 "Si quelqu'un réduisait Platon en système, il rendrait un grand service au genre humain" G. W. Liebnitz, Letter to Nicolas Rémond dated February 11th, 1715 |
Plato is probably one of the greatest philosophers of all times, if not the greatest. Yet, he was one of the first philosophers, at least in the western philosophical tradition that was born in Greece a few hundred years BC., and anyway he is the first one whose complete works are still available to us. But if we have more than we would bargain for in terms of writings attributed to Plato, as some of the dialogues and letters transmitted to us under his name are obviously not his, we have very little data on his life and literary activity. As a result, many conflicting theories have been developed by scholars of various times regarding the interpretation of Plato's dialogues and their chronology to the extent it bears on that interpretation. This set of pages intends to present a new theory on the interpretation of Plato's dialogues and "philosophy".
But
these pages don't intend to make you a Plato scholar, a specialist of his thoughts
and "theories", for the simple reason that one of the most ingrained
convictions of the author of these pages is that, if Plato wrote dialogues
rather than philosophy treatises, and, what's more, dialogues in which he never
stages himself as a participant, it is because his purpose was not to tell his
readers what he himself thought, what were the answers he himself
had given to the most fundamental questions in life about what it means to
be a (wo)man, but to teach them to think by themselves so that they
could find their own answers to those questions, because he knew that,
in such matters, neither he nor we would ever get ultimate, "scientifically"
demonstrable, answers, and that each one of us has to build one's own life
and live it (and that, no one can do for someone else) based upon
hypotheses that had to be the most "reasonable" that
was possible, as what defines man is his being an animal endowed with logos
(a Greek word meaning both "speech" and "reason", among
many other meanings), but that would nonetheless remain till the end "indemonstrable"
assumptions. In short, he only wanted to help his readers practice for themselves
the motto that was engraved above the main entrance of the temple at Delphi,
and which his "master", Socrates, had made his own:
| "Know thyself " |
(in Greek : "gnôthi sauton", which is better
translated by "come to know thyself" or "learn
to know thyself") and thus,
to become philosophers,
that is, according to Plato at least, not specialists of one scholarly branch
of knowledge among others, making a living out of their teaching, peer debates
and published works, but, in the etymological sense of the word, "lovers
of wisdom", lovers (philoi
in Greek) only, not "wise" (sophoi in Greek), because they
know the wisdom they love cannot be reached in this life (as the principles
upon which it depends cannot be demonstrated, which means, as Socrates used
to say, that "I know nothing", meaning "I known nothing for
certain, in the strongest sense of these words, nothing, that is, of what
alone counts to reach happiness in life"), but constitutes an idea(l)
of justice,
of a justice that is not merely abiding by the laws, but which is the
inner harmony to be reached by a human being whose will is torn apart
between passions and reason and whose unity is not given from the start, as
the foundation for social harmony between men and women in the city.
(Note : if you are a first time visitor, click here to move directly to the directory of introductory material)
Latest additions to the site : (April 26, 2021) A webpage version of the lexicon of Greek words important for understanding Plato already found in pdf format as appendix 2 of Plato: the Essentials (pdf file, 501 Kb, enriched and revised version of February 28, 2021); (June 27th, 2017) The translation in English by me of a paper I originally wrote in French (French title: Platon, l'essentiel) titled in English Plato: the Essentials (pdf file, 449 Kb), which provides, in less than twenty pages an overview of the main suggestions Plato submits to our critical examination in the dialogues, followed by a lexicon of Greek words important for understanding Plato, added July 7th, 2017; (April 21th, 2017) The translation in English by me of a paper I originally wrote in French (French title: Platon, mode d'emploi) titled in English "Plato (the philosopher): User's Guide" (pdf file, about 1,7 Mb), providing a comprehensive overview of my understanding of Plato's dialogues, including a presentation of each dialogue and a translation by me of five key sections of the Republic: the parallel between good and sun (Rep. VI, 504e7-509c4), the analogy of the line (Rep. VI, 509c5-511e5), the allegory of the cave (Rep. VII, 514a1-517a7), its commentary by Socrates (Rep. VII, 517a8-519b7) and the definition of to dialegesthai (Rep. VII, 531c9-535a2) (the paper is about 150 pages plus about 50 pages of appendixes);
(January 24th, 2015) a paper in English titled "Can we see the sun?" (pdf file), detailing my understanding of the allegory of the cave (Republic VII, 514a1-517a7), the analogy of the line (Republic, VI, 509c5-511e5) and the parallel between good and sun (Republic VI, 504e7-509c) and the consequences it has on the general understanding of Plato's dialogues and more specifically on his supposed "theory of forms/ideas";
(March 29th, 2013) in the French section of this site, new completely revised annotated translation in French of Republic, VI, 509c5-511e5 (the analogy of the line) and Republic VII, 514a1-517a7 (the allegory of the cave) (the later available since October 23rd, 2012) leading to a completely new understanding of those two famous texts which deciphers all the details of those images ; (July 25th, 2012) in the French section of this site, annotated translation in French of Republic, X, 595c7-598d6 under the title « les trois couches (lits) », leading to a new understanding of the word eidos and idea in Plato ; (October 16, 2010) in the French section of the site, completion of the annotated translation in French of books V, VI and VII of the Republic, with an introduction, under the title « Les trois vagues »; (June 7, 2009) correction to the map of Plato's dialogues to exchange places between the Gorgias and the Hippias Major (see introductoty note to the presentation of the second tetralogy for some explanations on this change); (June 5, 2009) in the French section of the site, a pdf file (2 Mo) including the Greek text of the Meno along with an introduction and my annotated translation of it in French (each page is divided in three: a portion of the Greek text, my translation in French of that portion, and notes on that portion) ; (earlier) a page with pictures dedicated to the Stephanus edition
of Plato's complete works published in 1578 which still serves as a reference to quote Plato and
a page that shows what
a "book" might
have looked like in Plato's time. Also, for those who read French :
a
"vocabulary" section with studies
of words of significant importance for the understanding of Plato; a commented
translation in French of the
first part of the Parmenides (Parmenides, 126a1-137c3: Prologue,
dialogue between Socrates and Zeno, dialogue between Socrates and Parmenides);
of the Meno;
of large sections of the Republic:
the ring of Gyges; the philosopher
king: end of book
V starting
at 471c4; all of book
VI (including the comparison between
sun and good and the analogy of
the line); all of book
VII (including the allegory of
the cave); the myth of Er at the
end of book X; see also history of updates -- Tools : new
and updated entries on Ionia, Doris,
Æolis, Phocis,
Libya, Phoenicia
and more, and also on Atlas and Atlantis,
Prometheus and Epimetheus, plus a new
map of Athens intra-muros in the time
of Socrates and Plato. Also an entry on Athens
enriched with a more fully developed section on mythological traditions on
its legendarty kings, plus detailed maps of the
Agora
and the Acropolis, and a comparative
chronology of Greek and modern thinkers and politicians to give you a
more
"concrete" feel for the scale of time involved with Plato and Socrates.
A "map" of Plato's dialogues provinding
links to comments on specific tetralogies and dialogues (the "heart" of this
site)
An overview of the main suggestions Plato submits to our critical examination in the dialogues titled "Plato: the Essentials" (pdf file of about 20 pages(256 Kb), translation in English by me of a paper I originally wrote in French under the title "Platon: l'essentiel") and including as appendix 2 a Lexicon of Greek words important for understanding Plato, also available as a stand-alone web page
A comprehensive overview of my understanding of Plato's dialogues titled "Plato (the philosopher): User's Guide" (pdf file of about 150 pages plus about 50 pages of appendixes (1.7 Mb) including a presentation of each dialogue and a translation by me of five key sections of the Republic: the parallel between good and sun (Rep. VI, 504e7-509c4), the analogy of the line (Rep. VI, 509c5-511e5), the allegory of the cave (Rep. VII, 514a1-517a7), its commentary by Socrates (Rep. VII, 517a8-519b7) and the definition of to dialegesthai (Rep. VII, 531c9-535a2), translation in English by me of a paper I originally wrote in French under the title "Platon, mode d'emploi")
A Tools section providing context and perspective for the dialogues :
synoptic and detailed
chronologies of Vth and IVth centuries
B. C. (in the making) ; maps of Greek
world from Sicily to Asia Minor, Eastern
Mediterranean
from Egypt to the Black Sea, Greece, Central
Greece and Peloponnese, Attica and Athens ;
biographical and geographical entries on
persons and locations of interest in studying
Plato and his dialogues (in the making); and also a
page dedicated to the Stephanus edition of Plato's complete works (with pictures), which, though
dating back to 1578, still serves as the reference today for quoting Plato
(see question 7 of the frequently asked questions)
A
list of Plato's works, along
with a bibliography on and around Plato.
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Access
to some of these papers requires Adobe
Reader, which can be downloaded for free from the Adobe site by clicking here.
French reading visitors will also find on the site of the online philosophical journal Klèsis (this journal changes often of host and of layout, which result in frequent changes of URL for individual pages; if the links below to the journal don't work, used the links to the local copies which, being on my site, don't change):
Answers
to some Frequently Asked Questions about Plato
(including a question on Plato and Atlantis)
E-mail
Archives (some of my messages about Plato's dialogues to various lists)
A brief history of the interpretation
of Plato's dialogues
A new set of hypotheses about Plato's dialogues
An introductory essay on Plato and his dialogues
by the author of these pages at the 
(EAWC) site at the University of Evansville, Indiana, which has hosted this
Plato site for the first five years of its existence.
This site on Plato and his dialogues was made possible by the suggestion and encouragement the author received, and continues receiving, from Anthony F. Beavers, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Evansville, Indiana, who accepted to host these pages for more than five years (May, 1996 to September, 2001) on one of the servers of the Internet Applications Laboratory (IALab) he founded and heads at the University of Evansville. Among many projects of the IALab, Tony is developing his own site on Plato, called "Exploring Plato's Dialogues : A Virtual Learning Environment on the World-Wide Web".
Plato and his dialogues : Home - Biography - Works and links to them - History of interpretation - New hypotheses - Map of dialogues : table version or non tabular version. Tools : Index of persons and locations - Detailed and synoptic chronologies - Maps of Ancient Greek World. Site information : About the author - Map of the site
First published May 16, 1996 - Last
updated June 21, 2022
© 1996, 1997 Bernard
SUZANNE (click on name to send your comments via e-mail)
Quotations from theses pages are authorized provided they mention the author's
name and source of quotation (including date of last update). Copies of these
pages must not alter the text and must leave this copyright mention visible
in full.
