Richard Rorty is set up as the strawman in this book and this is unfortunate. Apart from this the book is an interesting read that Rorty would have little problem with. Indeed this is the case (see Rorty's review of the book).

I think Williams in this book is saying much the same thing as Dan Dennett and is on the same critical wave length with Dan in his criticism's of Rorty. Which seem to me to be quite "Rortyian" in style i.e the critiques are politically motivated.

From a meta-philosophical perspective I believe there is little "practical" difference between Rorty, Williams and Dennett - not to mention Putnam (see his new book).

Therefore as a political (and hence usefull or something we should care about) work this is a good book.
The most interesting move in this book is the use of Nietzsche.
Very Rortyian indeed.

I found Williams' treatment of truth to be an important contribution. I thought well enough of it that I'm coming our of retirement to do a graduate course on the book in the Fall. Non-philosophers will find it tough going, but well worth the effort. I think this is an important book and everyone I've recommended it to has agreed with that judgment.

Williams is one of the wisest and more learned of philosophers working in English, a man of capacious intelligence and brilliant insight, and a man gracious enough to have learned how to write lucid, enjoyable prose. I share Michael Colson's enthusiasm, although I share none of his worries or dislikes. His "Enemies List" is not mine. And I think it should not be Williams's. I remain unpersuaded that the account of what we mean by true discourse given by the bogeymen of postmodernity amounts to a denial that anything's true or that in matters of the mind "anything goes." Williams is on the right track but turns off a little too soon--in what amounts to a failure of attentiveness. But the second part of the book easily compensates for the occasional disappointments of the first part. One can feel he is not entirely fair to some of his philosophical contemporaries, and still feel a great deal of gratitude for the pleasure of his company.

Alfred North Whitehead, if he is remembered for nothing else, will always be remembered for his oft-quoted statement that the history of Western philosophy consists of nothing more than "a series of footnotes to Plato." In this small book (it has only fifty-seven pages of text, including footnotes and bibliography), Bernard Williams provides a succinct and useful introduction to Plato's thought and philosophical method.

Plato is the earliest Western philosopher for whom we have a complete set of texts. Plato is also, perhaps, the earliest philosopher to examine the full range of philosophical questions. Using the dialogic method, Plato explored questions of truth, beauty, immortality, ethics, and love. He contemplated the "mind-body" problem and, in his master work, "The Republic", sought to establish a sound foundation for the Greek polis. However, while Plato's range was extensive, his dialogic method created open texts, sometimes internally contradictory and always subject to interpretation. Plato adumbrated, in other words, a set of philosophic questions and a method which provided a fertile beginning for Western metaphysics.

Professor Williams effectively uses snippets of Plato's dialogues to illustrate Plato's philosophical method, as well as the uncertain conclusions, the "openness", of Plato's texts. Rather than approaching Plato as a systematic philosopher with fixed views, Williams quite accurately notes that "Plato seems to have thought that the final significance of philosophy for one's life does not lie in anything that could be embodied in its findings, but emerges, rather, from its activities." Adhering to that notion, this little book provides a wonderful way, particularly for the initiate to Plato (I think, here, particularly of the high school student exploring Philosophy for the first time), to begin grappling with timeless questions.

This book comes in at a little under 50 pages (45), and like Anthony Gottlieb with "Socrates," Bernard Williams is able to cover quite a lot of ground in that short space. Because of the limits imposed by its brevity, there is not much focus on Plato's personal life, or the context within which his ideas were born. Instead there is an excellent exploration of Plato's writings that weaves through his texts and gives the reader an idea for how to approach his works. It is not meant to be a complete and thorough analysis, but as an introduction or accompaniment to Plato's dialogues, it is a valuable book(let).