Gorgias

by Plato

Overview

Taking the form of a dialogue between Socrates, Gorgias, Polus and Callicles, the Gorgias debates crucial questions about the nature of government. While the aspiring politician Callicles propounds the view that might is right, and the rhetorician Gorgias argues that oratory and the power to persuade represent 'the greatest good', Socrates insists on the duty of politicians to consider the welfare of their citizens -- a duty he believed had been dishonoured in the Athens of his time. The dialogue offers fascinating insights into how classical Athens was governed, as well as creating a theoretical framework that has been highly influential on subsequent political debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604505481
Publisher:	Serenity Publishers
Publication date:	10/24/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

James H. Nichols, Jr., is Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College. His published work includes a translation of Alexandre Kojeve's Introduction to the Reading of Hegel, also from Cornell.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	vii
	Reference System Used in this Edition	ix
	Chronology	xi
	Introduction	xiii
	Further Reading	xxxviii
	A Note on the Text	xliii
A	Dialogue With Gorgias	3
B	Dialogue With Polus	27
C	Dialogue With Callicles	64
	Notes	139
	Glossary of Greek Terms	151
	Index	153

Editorial Reviews

"The admired qualities of Dodds's works, a scholarship both exact and deep, an economy and lucidity in exposition (Dodds has few rivals in saying much in the fewest words with absolute clarity), and an immense level-headedness and sobriety which combined with the sharpest acumen and independence of judgment in the handling of evidence is never seduced by the charm of fantasy, all these once more characterize his edition of the Gorgias."—Philosophical Quarterly

"Professor Dodds's fine edition (which both overhauls the manuscript tradition and supplies a commentary as wide ranging as it is perspicacious) fills a gap untouched in this country since 1890....The Gorgias should have a special appeal to contemporary students, and to historians no less than philosophers."—Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher