Description
An essential guide to Plato’s dialogues
For more than two millennia, Plato’s dialogues have challenged, inspired, and captivated readers. While the Apology and Republic are among his best-known works, they are only two of a remarkable collection of dialogues that explore love and friendship, virtue and justice, rhetoric and politics, knowledge and reality. Plato’s Shadow is an invitation to discover the full breadth of Plato’s thought.
Written for students and general readers alike, it begins with an accessible introduction to the lives and times of Socrates, Plato, and the pre-Socratic philosophers. It then provides a clear and concise summary of all of Plato’s dialogues, placing each in its philosophical context and tracing the unfolding of Plato’s thought across one of the most influential bodies of writing in the Western tradition.
This thoroughly revised second edition also includes extended commentaries on six of Plato’s most important dialogues—Gorgias, Meno, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic, and Theaetetus. Together, they illuminate Plato’s central concerns—from ethics, politics, justice, and rhetoric to knowledge, love, and the immortality of the soul—while revealing the growing subtlety of his philosophy, literary artistry, and dialectical method.
Whether you are approaching Plato for the first time or returning to him with fresh questions, Plato’s Shadow provides the knowledge and context to read the dialogues with understanding and delight.
About the author
Dr Neel Burton is a philosopher and psychiatrist who lives and teaches in Oxford, England. His other books include The Gang of Three: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle; How to Think Like Plato and Speak Like Cicero; and Aristotle’s Universe.
Editorial reviews
A succinct précis of the work of one of the world’s greatest and most influential thinkers… For the newcomer or undergraduate it’s a great resource, being both a celebration of and an introduction to some of the most remarkable, beautiful, provocative, powerful, and vital writings in Western literature.
—The Good Web Guide
This book provides a tremendously useful service to anyone studying Plato, or to the more general reader… It is an essential addition to the library of any serious student of Plato—which, given his undiminished importance, should be every philosopher!
—Philosophy Online
An invaluable, indispensable guide that avoids the usual one-sided approach to Plato… even the ordering of the dialogues makes sense. I shall certainly be recommending it to my students.
—Dr Alan Cardew, University of Essex
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