The Oxford Handbook of Plato

Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy

by Gail Fine (Editor)

Plato is the best known, and continues to be the most widely studied, of all the ancient Greek philosophers. The twenty-one commissioned articles in The Oxford Handbook of Plato provide in-depth and up-to-date discussions of a variety of topics and dialogues. The result is a useful state-of-the-art reference to the man many consider the most important philosophical thinker in history.

Each article is an original contribution from a leading scholar, and they all serve several functions at they survey the lay of the land; express and develop the authors' own views; and situate those views within a range of alternatives.

This Handbook contains chapters on metaphysics, epistemology, love, language, ethics, politics, art and education. Individual chapters are devoted to each of the following the Republic, Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Timaeus, and Philebus. There are also chapters on Plato and the dialogue form; on Plato in his time and place; on the history of the Platonic corpus; on Aristotle's criticism of Plato, and on Plato and Platonism.

Genres: Philosophy

618 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2008

Reviews

[Othoob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am still reading this book, as a handbook. I find it very explanatory and well-written. I often refer to these handbooks when I am reading Plato or Aristotle, as it helps me digest their ideas through more context since I have not read most of their works. I do enjoy reading about Plato and will continue to make this book a guide to learn more of him.

[Pundapog · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gave me a headache. Plato studies get so technical I can barely follow it, the nonsense on the "compresence of opposites" made me so angry. Timaeus is an infuriating read, and I can't lie, I couldn't finish the chapter on Parmenides.

I got some use from it, I think I have an understanding of Platonic forms and his ontology, but it's a book which was evidently to advanced for me. Plato already is an almost esoteric philosopher (my first engagement with Plato was reading Gnostic interpretations of his idea of the "Demiurge"), and his epistemology deals with issues and questions which haven't come up for me and of which I do not see the relevance. Compounding this is the fact that Plato was in my view, a constantly developing thinker, and he changes his thoughts on a given concept each dialogue.

If you've read Plato already, or if you're up for a challenge and want a proper interpretation of him, this book is for you.