Plato: Complete Works

Citation

Plato. (1997). Plato: Complete Works (J. M. Cooper, Ed.; D. S. Hutchinson, Assoc. Ed.). Hackett Publishing Company.

Chapter Summary

This is a single volume of roughly 1,800 pages that the publisher describes as the first single edition to include the entire surviving corpus of works attributed to Plato in antiquity. It is a collection, not a continuous argument, so this section follows the contents list, which groups the works under their translators. The translations are by different scholars, many commissioned especially for the volume, and each work has a short introduction by Cooper or Hutchinson and annotation. The one-line descriptions of subject matter below are confined to what the works are generally known to treat.

Introduction, Editorial Notes and Acknowledgments

John Cooper's introductory essay explains how the works are presented, discusses the question of the order in which they were composed, comments on the dialogue form and offers guidance on approaching the reading and study of Plato. The volume closes with a comprehensive index.

Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo (trans. G. M. A. Grube)

The four works that surround the trial and death of Socrates. In the Euthyphro, Socrates is awaiting trial for impiety and discusses piety with a man prosecuting his own father; the Apology is his defence speech; the Crito concerns his refusal to escape; and the Phaedo narrates his last hours and the arguments about the soul.

Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman, Parmenides, Philebus

Dialogues translated by C. D. C. Reeve, M. J. Levett (revised by M. Burnyeat), N. White, C. J. Rowe, M. L. Gill and P. Ryan, and D. Frede. They deal with names and language (Cratylus), knowledge (Theaetetus), the sophist and the problem of what is not (Sophist), the statesman, the One and the Many (Parmenides) and pleasure and the good life (Philebus). In the volume they follow the Socratic group, and they are the more technical part of the corpus.

Symposium and Phaedrus (trans. A. Nehamas and P. Woodruff)

Two dialogues that between them contain Plato's treatment of love; the Phaedrus also takes up rhetoric.

Alcibiades, Second Alcibiades, Hipparchus, Rival Lovers, Theages

A group of shorter works attributed to Plato in antiquity, translated by several hands. The editors' introductions to each are the place to learn about their status and subject.

Charmides, Laches, Lysis, Euthydemus

Dialogues that search for a definition of a single virtue or relation, namely temperance (Charmides), courage (Laches) and friendship (Lysis), together with the Euthydemus, which satirises sophistic argument.

Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno

Three dialogues in which Socrates talks with a famous sophist (Protagoras), a rhetorician (Gorgias) and a young visitor (Meno). The Protagoras and Meno ask what virtue is and whether it can be taught; the Gorgias takes up rhetoric.

Greater Hippias, Lesser Hippias, Ion, Menexenus, Clitophon

Short dialogues on the beautiful, on poetry and performance (Ion), and on funeral oratory (Menexenus).

Republic, Timaeus, Critias

The Republic is translated by G. M. A. Grube and revised by C. D. C. Reeve; the Timaeus by D. J. Zeyl; the Critias by D. Clay. The Republic is Plato's longest treatment of justice and the ideal city, the Timaeus an account of the making of the cosmos.

Minos, Laws, Epinomis, Letters

The Laws (trans. T. Saunders) is Plato's long dialogue on legislation and the Epinomis (trans. R. D. McKirahan, Jr) is attached to it. The Letters are translated by G. R. Morrow.

Definitions, On Justice, On Virtue, Demodocus, Sisyphus, Halcyon, Eryxias, Axiochus, Epigrams

The final works in the contents, included because the volume aims to be complete.

Key Concepts

Socratic Dialogues

• Dialogue form: philosophy written as conversation, which Cooper's introduction discusses; a student has to attend to who is speaking and why.
• Virtue and its teachability: a theme in the Protagoras and Meno, with the search for definitions of single virtues in Charmides, Laches and Lysis.

Middle and Later Dialogues

• Chronology: the order in which the works were composed, discussed in Cooper's introduction, which affects how earlier and later dialogues are compared.
• Love: the topic of the Symposium and the Phaedrus.
• Justice and the ideal city: the subject of the Republic, with legislation taken up in the Laws.
• Knowledge, being and the One and the Many: the technical topics of the Theaetetus, Sophist and Parmenides.
• The making of the cosmos: the subject of the Timaeus.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Completeness. The publisher states that the volume includes the entire surviving corpus of works attributed to Plato in antiquity, so the whole body of dialogues is in one reference text, with a comprehensive index.
• Translations by specialists. The contents name a different scholar or team for nearly every work, including Grube, Reeve, Nehamas and Woodruff, Zeyl, Rowe and Saunders. Michael Rohr, in a review quoted by the publisher, calls them both readable and accurate and says the notes are pitched at the right level.
• A framework for the reader. Cooper's general introduction deals with chronology and the dialogue form and offers guidance on how to study Plato, and each translation has its own short introduction and annotation, which means a student does not need a separate companion to start.
• A reference edition. Steven Willett, writing in Syllecta Classica (quoted by the publisher), also praised the care taken over the production of the volume.

Limitations

• Size. At roughly 1,800 pages it is a reference volume more than a text to read through, and courses must select dialogues.
• Varied translators. Because each work or group has its own translator, terminology and style differ from one dialogue to another, which matters for a student tracing a technical word across the corpus.
• Brief annotation. The publisher describes the introductions as concise, and the annotation is meant for both scholar and general reader, so students who want extended interpretation need a commentary or a companion study.
• Date. The volume dates from 1997, and scholarship since then is not reflected in its notes or introductions.

Where It Fits in the Course

Plato: Complete Works is the primary-source volume for the ancient philosophy course. Peter Adamson's Classical Philosophy is a conversational history that moves from the earliest Greek thinkers to Plato and Aristotle and is a suitable companion before or while reading the dialogues. Catherine Osborne's Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction and Kirk, Raven and Schofield's The Presocratic Philosophers cover the thinkers Plato responds to.

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, in Irwin's translation, is the natural next primary text, since Aristotle develops and criticises Plato's ethical ideas. Long and Sedley's The Hellenistic Philosophers continues the story after Aristotle.

How to Use This Book

The volume is for undergraduates and graduate students in ancient philosophy and classics, and for readers who want the entire corpus with scholarly apparatus. No Greek is needed, and no earlier study of Plato is required, though a companion introduction helps.

A practical plan:

• Start with Cooper's introduction and the editorial notes, then read each dialogue's own introduction before the dialogue.
• First read: the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo, which are short, then the Meno, Protagoras and Gorgias.
• Next: the Symposium and Phaedrus, then the Republic as the central text.
• Later or by interest: the Theaetetus, Sophist, Parmenides, Timaeus and Laws, which are longer and more technical.
• Treat the remaining works (the shorter dialogues, the Letters and the final group) as reference reading and consult them as needed.
• When comparing dialogues, check whether the translator has changed before drawing conclusions from a difference in wording.