Plato and the Socratic Dialogue: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form

Description

This book offers a new interpretation of Plato's early and middle dialogues as the expression of a unified philosophical vision. Whereas the traditional view sees the dialogues as marking successive stages in Plato's philosophical development, we may more legitimately read them as reflecting an artistic plan for the gradual, indirect and partial exposition of Platonic philosophy. The magnificent literary achievement of the dialogues can be fully appreciated only from the viewpoint of a unitarian reading of the philosophical content.

'... Kahn's writing is attractively lucid ... this will become an important reference-point in Platonic studies.' JACT Review ' ... Kahn's extremely rich account of Plato and his work ... an important book, one of which all those interested in Plato will want to form an opinion'. New York Review of Books