Plato: Encyclopedia II - Plato - Bibliography

Plato - Bibliography

Plato's writings (most of them dialogues) have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts.

Plato - By tetralogy

One tradition regarding the arrangement of Plato's texts is according to tetralogies. This scheme is ascribed by Diogenes Laertius to an ancient scholar and court astrologer to Tiberius named Thrasyllus.

In the list below, works by Plato are marked (1) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether Plato is the author, and (2) if scholars generally agree that Plato is not the author of the work. Unmarked works are assumed to have been written by Plato.

• I. Euthyphro, (The) Apology (of Socrates), Crito, Phaedo
• II. Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman
• III. Parmenides, Philebus, (The) Symposium, Phaedrus
• IV. First Alcibiades (1), Second Alcibiades (2), Hipparchus (2), (The) (Rival) Lovers (2)
• V. Theages (2), Charmides, Laches, Lysis
• VI. Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno
• VII. (Greater) Hippias (major) (1), (Lesser) Hippias (minor), Ion, Menexenus
• VIII. Clitophon (1), (The) Republic, Timaeus, Critias
• IX. Minos (2), (The) Laws, Epinomis (2), Letters (1)

The remaining works were transmitted under Plato's name, most of them already considered spurious in antiquity:

• Axiochus (2), Definitions (2), Demodocus (2), Epigrams, Eryxias (2), Halcyon (2), On Justice (2), On Virtue (2), Sisyphus (2)

Plato - Stephanus pagination

The usual system for making unique references to sections of the text by Plato derives from a 16th century edition of Plato's works by Henricus Stephanus. An overview of Plato's writings according to this system can be found in the Stephanus pagination article.

Plato - Chronology

The exact order in which Plato's dialogues were written is not known, nor is the extent to which some might have been later revised and rewritten. However, there is enough information internal to the dialogues to form a rough chronology. The dialogues are normally grouped into three fairly distinct periods, with a few of them considered transitional works, and some just difficult to place.

Many of the positions in this ordering are still highly disputed.

Socrates figures in all of these, and they are considered the most faithful representations of the historical Socrates; hence they are also called the Socratic dialogues. Most of them consist of Socrates discussing a subject, often an eithcal one (friendship, piety) with a friend or with someone presumed to be an expert on it. Through a series a series of questions he will show that they don't apparently understand it at all. This period also includes several pieces surrounding the trial and execution of Socrates.

• Apology
• Crito
• Charmides
• Laches
• Lysis
• Euthyphro
• Menexenus
• Lesser Hippias
• Ion

The following are variously considered transitional or middle period dialogues:

• Gorgias
• Protagoras
• Meno

Plato - Middle Dialogues

Late in the early dialogues Plato's Socrates actually begins supplying answers to some of the questions he asks, or putting forth positive doctrines. This is generally seen as the first appearance of Plato's own views. The first of these, that goodness is wisdom and that no one does evil willingly, was perhaps Socrates' own view. What becomes most prominent in the middle dialogues is the idea that knowledge comes of grasping unchanging forms or essences, paired with the attempts to investigate such essences. The immortality of the soul, and specific doctrines about justice, truth, and beauty, begin appearing here. The Symposium and the Republic are considered the cetrepieces of Plato's middle period.

• Euthydemus
• Cratylus
• Phaedo
• Phaedrus
• Symposium
• Republic
• Theaetetus
• Parmenides

The Parmenides presents a series of criticisms of the Theory of Forms which are widely taken t indicate Plato's abandonment of the doctrine. In most of the remaining dialogues the theory is absent (the Timaeus is an important, and hence controversially placed, exception]]. Socrates is either absent or a minor figure in the discussion.

• Sophist
• Statesman
• Philebus
• Timaeus
• Critias
• Laws

Plato - Loeb Classical Library

James Loeb provided a very popular edition of Plato's works, still in print in the 21st century: see Loeb Classical Library#Plato for how Plato's works were named in Loeb's publications.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bibliography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki