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    Gorgias
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    Gorgias
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    Gorgias
    Ebook229 pages3 hours

    Gorgias

    By Plato

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    About this ebook

    In several of the dialogues of Plato, doubts have arisen among his interpreters as to which of the various subjects discussed in them is the main thesis. The speakers have the freedom of conversation; no severe rules of art restrict them, and sometimes we are inclined to think, with one of the dramatis personae in the Theaetetus, that the digressions have the greater interest. Yet in the most irregular of the dialogues there is also a certain natural growth or unity; the beginning is not forgotten at the end, and numerous allusions and references are interspersed, which form the loose connecting links of the whole. We must not neglect this unity, but neither must we attempt to confine the Platonic dialogue on the Procrustean bed of a single idea. (Compare Introduction to the Phaedrus.)
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPlato
    Release dateOct 2, 2014
    ISBN9786050324921
    Author

    Plato

    Plato, one of the most renowned ancient Greek philosophers, was born in 427 B.C. to an aristocratic and wealthy family, which played a prominent part in Athenian politics. Plato in conjunction his teacher, Socrates, and his pupil, Aristotle helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and culture. While primarily influenced by Socrates, Plato’s work was also affected by the philosophies of Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans. Under the guidance of Socrates, Plato devoted himself to the pursuit of wisdom and upon Socrates’ death, joined a group of the Socratic disciples gathered at Megara. Later he travelled in Egypt, Magna Graecia, and Sicily. He returned to Athens and founded a school, known as the Academy, which seems to have been his home base for the remainder of his life. While thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of some of them. His early dialogues are also known as the Socratic dialogues and include Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Protagoras. He followed these with his transitional dialogues: Gorgias, Meno , and Euthydemus . The Symposium and the Republic are considered the centerpieces of Plato's middle period and are considered some of his most revered work, and other middle dialogues include Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Theaetetus. Plato’s Laws is the best known dialogues of his late period. Plato died in 347 B.C.

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    Reviews for Gorgias

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    • 5/5
      A little note light compared to more recent penguin editions of this sort of thing, but a fair trade off for the quality of the translation. Clearly written and does well at bringing out the speakers' tone. Socrates is in fine fettle in this dialogue, angry and sarcastic, and you can see how annoying he must have been. There's some really nice stuff relating to his death in the argument with Callicles, but that with Polus is the stand out argument for me. The idea that it's better to suffer wrong than inflict it is a reversal so huge it's really Socrates' version of turning the tables in the temple. My favourite bit though was the equation of crime with illness. I did something a few years ago that, not being illegal in this country, I wasn't punished for. I've never really come to terms with it because I never got to take my medicine.
    • 4/5
      Definitely the most engaging of Plato's dialogues that I've read. Socrates' sarcasm is off the charts, and he just destroys his Sophist opponents.
    • 5/5
      Argument after argument can be proved wrong, but just one holds its ground—that we have to take greater care to avoid doing wrong than we do to avoid suffering wrong, and that above all else we must concentrate not on making people believe that we're good, but on being good, in our private lives as well as in public.Solid translation with great commentary.
    • 3/5
      We should devote all our own and our community's energies towards ensuring the presence of justice and self-discipline, and so guaranteeing happiness.

      So Socrates wanted to make Athens great again and along the way gave the pundits and consultants the what for. His argument is measured and allows the three stooges to defeat their own assertions in fits of bumbling exasperation. The virtues of work and health are explored with nary a word about the lamp above the Golden Door. This notion of moderation was embraced during the Enlightenment but has recently fell from grace Quoting The Tick, Evil wears every possible mitten. That said the argument of the good, the moral hinges here on a tiny necessity, the afterworld , a world of never ending happiness, you can always see the sun, day or night.

      Well the current corruption of these words Good and Great have launched their own raid on the Dialogues. Plato asserts most of politics is flattery and power. Socrates knew that and wound up on a state sponsored trip across the Styx.

      All we can do is resist. Resist.
    • 3/5
      A solid Platonic dialogue.