Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy

by L.G. Westerink (Translator)

A fascinating work from the Alexandrian School’s late period. The areas covered include - the life of Plato and his motives for writing, the characteristics of Platonic philosophy, and the dialogues - their elements, titles, divisions, methods of presentation, rules for establishing their central theme, and their order of study

126 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1753

About the author

Leendert Gerrit Westerink

Reviews

[Kaye]

Really useful intro despite a bunch of untranslated Ancient Greek that was used to do passage comparisons (which may mean I have no business reading this as someone without the language skill). I have seen this referenced a lot in introductions to translations of Proclus and other authors, and the text itself lives up to my expectations as a really useful summary of things to keep in mind when reading Plato's dialogues. The emphasis on treating Plato's dialogues (and other high-caliber works) as living beings is especially useful, with a few passages that look very quotable; the concept of a person coming into acquaintanceship and eventually friendship or fallout with a text is a really nice nod to 20th century lit crit in which the meaning of a text needs to be considered in the context of each reader, but with the improvement of the author and text being treated as important agents in the experience, too.

[Cw]

Solid introduction to Platos works, and even worth reading if you've already read a bunch of the dialogues. This was written during the late period of the academy, so it gives you a brief and well developed overview of Platos writings.