Plato: A Beginner's Guide

by Roy Jackson

This handy series from Headway offers brief yet lucid introductions to the world’s cultural icons. Each book examines the life, the work, and the legends surrounding its subject, and key terms and concepts are highlighted and clearly explained. Additionally, each chapter ends with a review section for easy reference and to help consolidate the reader’s understanding of the text.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

90 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

I am a Reader in the Philosophy of Religion, teaching courses on Islam, Nietzsche, Greek philosophy, and philosophy of religion. I am particularly interested in the interaction between western philosophy and the religious claims made by Islam, which align with my view that philosophy and religion are intertwined.


Awards

University Teaching Fellowship

Awarded research grant for Learning for Sustainable Futures (LFSF) in Education
Erasmus exchange with University of Cordoba

Membership of professional bodies
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA)

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Member of the Council for the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS)

British Association for the Study of Religion (BASR)

Reviews

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without a doubt this is the most useful Plato aid I have ever come across.

In studying philosophy this short book helped me much more than anything else I picked up. It is short and to the point. It does not run off in fifty different directions to explain one topic to you. It’s a quick little aid that you can consume in no time at all, in a simple writing style which does not leave your head aching like most philosophical pieces of work usually do.

My only regret is that it is so short. It is so useful that something much larger would surely benefit all.

[Demi Maree · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the cat's pyjama's for anyone even slightly interested in philosophy. It gives you a great foundation to Philosophy and includes other historical characters such as Socrates, Aristotle, etc and how they shaped the most well known philosopher. The chapters are categorised in a step-by-step way and beautifully blends the information. Roy Jackson did a smashing job of writing this in a way that's undaunting and easy to understand, it's like someone is talking to you!. Giving you definitions to words that aren't always common and a quick chapter summaries at the end of each chapter. everything I read in this little book has stuck more than any YouTube video ever could. And the best part is, Roy lists books for further reading at the end of the book, so you don't get lost where to go next.
Highly Recommend this one
and super enjoyable to read!

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent guide for the beginner or anyone who just wants some better knowledge of Plato, his life, and teachings (all aspects of his philosophy). It presents an general overview of his work shining a light on life in Athens during his lifetime which must definitely did affect his thinking. It continues with a look at the Socratic method, the theory of forms, aspects of his thinkings on knowledge, ignorance and opinion, explores the soul and it's immortality, justice, education, the philosopher king, and the ideal state. In the final chapter there are some briefs on individuals who continued along his philosophical path such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, and of course, though there was a bit of disagreement in their philosophies, Aristotle...