Protagoras

by Plato, C. C. W. Taylor

Overview

In the fifth century BC professional educators, the sophists, travelled the Greek world claiming to teach success in public and private life. In this dialogue Plato shows the pretensions of the leading sophist, Protagoras, challenged by the critical arguments of Socrates. From criticism of the educational aims and methods of the sophists the dialogue broadens out to consider the nature of the good life, and the role of pleasure and intellect in the context of that life.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199555659
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/14/2009
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period.In Athens, Plato founded the Academy, a philosophical school where he taught the philosophical doctrines that would later become known as Platonism. Plato, or Platon, was a pen name derived, apparently, from the nickname given to him by his wrestling coach - allegedly a reference to his physical broadness. According to Alexander Polyhistor, quoted by Diogenes Laërtius, his actual name was Aristocles, son of Ariston, of the deme (suburb) Collytus, in Athens.[2]Plato was an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy. His most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He is the namesake of Platonic love and the Platonic solids. His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been, along with Socrates, the pre-Socratics Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although few of his predecessors' works remain extant and much of what is known about these figures today derives from Plato himself

Editorial Reviews

A very readable translation that conveys both the philosophical and the dramatic context better than any existing translation. It is extremely accurate in conveying the movement of the argument and in noting significant points of philosophical usage. . . . I am very impressed with the vividness and the easy flow of the prose. —John Cooper, Princeton University

From the Publisher