Phaedrus / Edition 1

by Plato, Alexander Nehamas, Paul Woodruff

Overview

Phaedrus is widely recognized as one of Plato's most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus and its ostensible subject is love, especially homoerotic love. Socrates reveals it to be a kind of divine madness that can allow our souls to grow wings and soar to their greatest heights. Then the conversation changes direction and turns to a discussion of rhetoric, which must be based on truth passionately sought, thus allying it to philosophy. The dialogue closes by denigrating the value of the written word in any context, compared to the living teaching of a Socratic philosopher. The shifts of topic and register have given rise to doubts about the unity of the dialogue, doubts which are addressed in the introduction to this volume. Full explanatory notes also elucidate issues throughout the dialogue that might puzzle a modern reader.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780872202207
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/15/1995
Series:	Hackett Classics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	412,745
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Paul Woodruff is Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
	Note on the Text	l
	Select Bibliography	li
	Phaedrus	1
	Explanatory Notes	76
	Textual Notes	106
	Index of Names	107

Editorial Reviews

A superb translation that captures the rhetorical brilliance of the Greek. . . . The translation is faithful in the very best sense: it reflects both the meaning and the beauty of the Greek text. . . . The footnotes are always helpful, never obtrusive. A one-page outline is useful since there are no editorial additions to mark major divisions in the dialogue. An appendix containing fragments of early Greek love poetry helps the reader appreciate the rich, and perhaps elusive, meaning of eros. . . . The entire Introduction is crisply written, and the authors' erudition shines throughout, without a trace of pedantry. . . . this is an excellent book that deservedly should find wide circulation for many years to come. --Tim Mahoney, University of Texas at Arlington

From the Publisher