Of the two reprint volumes (Greek and German Philosophers) that Oxford has published of its Past Masters series, I think all of the individual essays (except the one on Plato) are reprinted currently in its 'Very Short Introduction to...' series. So these volumes are a good deal because i think the 'Very Short Introduction' series are 10 bucks each. As well as being very clear and concise introductions by world renowned scholars.

Oxford University Press has done a great public service by publishing its "Past Masters" series. Each title in the series is an incisive account of a particular thinker published in a portable and inexpensive format. I only wish all of the titles in the series had been available to me during my undergraduate years! The three titles included in this one volume on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are welcome additions to the Past Masters series. All three essays are written with clarity and grace, and are worth the attention of novice and specialist alike.

I picked up this casette because I've long wanted to know more about the underpinnings of western philosophy--why we think the way we do--what came before and shaped 20th century thought? But who has time to read the great books in a day--or to take extensive coursework in philosophy? This tape was just about the best thing I could have asked for. It took the last 3000 years and rolled them up in a comprehensive and understandable ball. I now stand on a sturdier platform to be able to ask more cogent questions. And I gained this stance by listening during my commute, which is normally a waste of time. (Incidentally, I am now a huge tape fan, and I believe there are about 6 others in the series). Indeed "the unexamined life is not worth living," and now I am clearer on why, but most importantly, who said it.

A wonderful overview of Philosophy, covering the likes of Plato, Aristotle and the rest of the boys. Packed with information, but very comprehensible. Makes you want to learn more about each philosopher. The degree to which certain famous philosophers differ is facinating. I get something out of this audio tape everytime...

'Phaedrus' is the first work ever to provide an explanation to how we organise our ideas, speeches and use our knowledge in a general sense. It explains the basics of an arguing and convincing, within the context of Greek politics and society.

As I said, it's division and gathering that is evident in all of our arguments. We make our claims based upon the similarities and differences in things, and this is the core of argumentation.

In his dialogue style, Plato talks about many other things, that range from what makes a good writing a good one, to the heritance of knowledge. How should knowledge be attained from others? How should we present our knowledge for new generations to understand us? These are some of the questions that come up in Phaedrus.

Plato, one of the clearest writers in philosophy, wrote yet another beautiful work. I've started reading Plato when I was thirteen, and I really enjoy reading his works, which just flow.

I recommend not only this book, but almost any book of Plato's, for all philosophy lovers out there, and all those that would like to make their first attempt in understanding some philosophical issues, which build the base of our living.

In Phaedrus, Plato records the conversation of love and rhetoric between Socrates and Phaedrus. Socrates uses love as a metaphor for rhetoric by categorizing the differences between love and lust, as well as the differences between a philosopher who pursues divine truth, and a poet who forgoes truth for ostentations. Then Socrates and Phaedrus eventually conclude the requirements for being a dialectician. In the course of defending proper love and truth, Socrates pointes out that beauty and truth are divine. Whoever pursues reality would worship beauty and truth with reverence, and his admirations of divinities yield pleasures. Then in order to receive the blessing from gods, the proper lover and the philosopher must overcome desires with reasoning. Conversely, those commoners who are tempted by earthy imitations of the reality would be trapped by carnal or linguistic pleasures, as the improper lover and the poet, who lack reasoning would drown in the momentary enjoyments of their own wantonness.

This is a superb book on the philosophy of Socrates. You may not agree with Vlastos point by point; but if you disagree, you will have to work out your objections very carefully. One minor quibble: Vlastos seems to determined to defend whatever Socrates does and however he argues. This sometimes leads to (what looks very much like) special pleading. But the book is a masterpiece of readable, analytic philosophy.

A deeply profound scholarly work that is both well-written and a pleasure to read is hard to find, but Vlastos achieves this in this wonderful book. Although i do not agree with some of Vlastos' points concerning Plato, i must acknowledge the fact that most, if not all, of my ideas on Plato were either improved or disproved by either agreeing or disagreeing with Vlastos' interpretation of Plato. This book is one of the best ways for any reader of the Plato to be initiated into the various interpretations of his thought. The various theses raised by most scholarly works on Plato today can be traced to have developed either in agreement or in disagreement to this book. Some ideas that you will find in this work are: -a theory on how to chronologically arrange the Platonic corpus -an influential approach to understanding the reasons behind and the limits of the Socratic method -a theory on how to separate Plato's thought from Socrates' thought

This book is an excellent study of the trial of Socrates in its historical and cultural context. Unlike other studies, this book presents both sides of what the author conceives to be a tragic collision of values between the philosopher and Athens. The book is distinguished by excellent prose, clear and insightful analysis, and cogent arguments. This book is invaluable for anyone who wants to better understand Plato's APOLOGY and CRITO, which are dramatic re-creations of Socrates' trial, condemnation, and imprisonment. The author succeeds in transporting the reader back into the world of ancient Athens.
This book is suitable for the general reader as well as scholars. Many works, designed primarily for scholars, depict Socrates as a series of abstract arguments, depriving him of the humanity and passion that made him a great philosopher. Having read I.F. Stone on the trial of Socrates, which distorts the philosopher, presenting him as an authoritarian anti-democrat, I welcome Colaiaco's book for its presentation of a more objective view.
Unlike other studies which take either the side of Socrates or Athens, the author's approach is a balanced one. The reader is led to respect Socrates, the philosopher as hero who maintained his integrity until the end, and at the same time understand why the Athenians were threatened by his radical critique of their fundamental values. A glance at the table of contents will reveal that the book offers an enlightening intellectual history of Athens during the decline of its glory.
This book makes excellent reading for anyone interested in better understanding one of the greatest trials in history.

A graceful guide containing valuable historical and cultural description of Socrates' Athens, James Colaiaco's well informed and sometimes provocative exploration of an ancient conflict between democracy and dissidence evokes the scene and sense of the great philosopher's trial. It is a welcome addition to the literature on Socrates' trial and imprisonment that will enliven the modern debate over civil disobedience.

If there were any justice in this world, Ranasinghe's book would be redefine the field of Platonic studies and it would be required reading for every armchair ancient philosopher. R. explains with great breadth of understanding the entire literary landscape within which Plato wrote the dialogues. What is usually missing from Platonic criticism is a combination of philosophical and political insight together with a true understanding of how Greek literature actually functioned. R. demonstrates that he understands Plato's view of Aristophanes, Hesiod, Homer, Euripides and the entire panoply of mythological references and images from Greek lit. R. works in the mode of Strauss, but shows a clarity of thought and generally avoids Strauss' over-subtle interpretations of tricky passages. R.'s interpretations ring true and they reveal a Plato that is really far more cunning and rhetorically sophisticated than we ever imagined. There have been several books demonstrating the sophisticated symbolism of Plato's Apology and some of Xenophon's Platonic writings, but this is the first work I have encountered that demonstrates step by step that Plato employed the same sophisticated rhetorical strategies that we usually associated only with the Hellenistic philosophers. R. argues that Plato is not committed to his own Republic, that it is an object lesson for Glaucon in the personal effects of tyranny. His Phaedo is an object lesson for Phaedo and Cebes, an attempt to rescue them from their ridiculous Pythagorean beliefs. And so for the other dialogues. He explains with brilliant clarity how the literary environment of the fifth century is critiqued in Symposium. His Socrates is manly and virile and the only one willing to fight to rescue his friends from folly, ruin, and a life amid shadows of opinions. Required reading for every political scientist, philosopher and classicist!

This book offers startlingly original and loving readings of several of Plato's key dialogues. Ranasinghe passionately champions the Socratic way of life and draws attention to the lived dimension of philosophy. The interpretation of the Symposium is particularly interesting. The author suggests that a Socratic approach to the problem of sexual desire can overcome the present opposition between prudishness and promiscuity. He makes a very convincing case.

This book started it all for me. It stood out in the sociology section of floor 3 at the library. They say that you can't judge a book by its cover, but often, a cover will tell you a lot about the book.

That's how it was with this one. The cover was funky, with half-finished etchings. What was written inside was even better. It was a beautiful discourse on the nature of Love. From Agathon's (it was Agathon that told of Achilles and Patroclus...wasn't it?) tale of devotion, Aristophanes' haunting fable about our "other halves" (and the interludes in between, especially the one about hiccoughs) to Socrates' speech on love "involving the mind and not the body", this is a timeless and highly accessable study.

Read it a few years ago, and have been into philosophy ever since.

Not only should this book be the literary book-fellow to any Classics student, but an absolute must for every human being on the face of the planet. Griffins' translation is not only beautifully rendered/translated but extremely funky and contemporary. It is so applicable to our own modern interpertations of life, the universe,and everything, that you will easily forget than it was written over 2,500 years ago. In addition, the book design values are astounding. The fonts, both English and Greek, are lovely that even the reader who has never studied Greek will fall in love with the flowing lines.

While the logic propounded by Socrates in this account has since been successfully refuted as being flawed, it is his moral position which he was willing to die for which underlines the historicity more than the details of the ideas presented. The power of Socrates thus lies in his unabashed search for truth, even at the expense of his own life. What makes this book profound is that it is a non-fiction; The account of Socrates' trial and death as here recorded by Plato will give the reader an idea of what it means to die for a cause which seems right...its moral import is worth more than a million bucks.

Platos writings on Socrates dialogues in this book are very interesting and intellectually stimulating. I recommend this book for anyone interested in Socrates, Plato, philosophy, etc. And for $.80 you certainly can't complain about the price!

I lent this book out in graduate school and never saw it again. As I recall it is very good. Made sense of the Apology. Marxist interpretation of Plato. But, I thought it was by Neil Woods and his wife

Klein's approach to Plato is to examine the literary form in relation to the meaning imparted by the dialogue. Very often, the meaning of the dialogue is not made explicit by the content of the discussion between the principal characters. Most Platonic scholars, sadly enough, chalk this up to a deficiency in Plato rather than a deficiency in their own grasp of Plato's literary technique. So they claim that certain of Plato's dialogues are merely logical exercises with no outcome. Plato is far more subtle than that, and his greatness is bound up just as much with his mastery of the dialogue as with his philosophical insights. I have found what I have learned from Klein to be applicable to many of Plato's other works, and it has improved my understanding greatly. I recommend this work as a first rate introduction to reading Plato.