A Companion to Plato - Paperback

by Hugh H. Benson (Editor)

This broad-ranging Companion comprises original contributions from leading Platonic scholars and reflects the different ways in which they are dealing with Plato's legacy.

• Covers an exceptionally broad range of subjects from diverse perspectives
  
  
• Contributions are devoted to topics, ranging from perception and knowledge to politics and cosmology
  
  
• Allows readers to see how a position advocated in one of Plato's dialogues compares with positions advocated in others
  
  
• Permits readers to engage the debate concerning Plato's philosophical development on particular topics
  
  
• Also includes overviews of Plato's life, works and philosophical method
  

Back Jacket

Plato and Platonism remain fundamental to the practice of philosophy. This broad-ranging Companion comprises original contributions from some of the best Platonic scholars in the world today and reflects the various ways in which they are dealing with Plato's legacy.

The Companion is ordered on three principles. First, the contributions are devoted to topics in Platonic philosophy, ranging from perception and knowledge to politics and cosmology. This allows readers to see how a position advocated in one of Plato's dialogues compares with positions advocated in others. Second, reading Plato in this way raises issues concerning the chronological order of the composition of the dialogues and Plato's philosophical development; various sides of the debate on these subjects are argued. Finally, topics have been selected for their philosophical rather than their historical significance.

The volume will be welcomed for the wide range of topics and the multiplicity of perspectives it presents. As an aid to fuller understanding, it also includes overviews of Plato's life, works, and philosophical method.

Author Biography

Hugh H. Benson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma. He is the editor of Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates (1992) and author of Socratic Wisdom (2000) as well as various articles on the philosophy of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.