Socrates and the Sophists: Plato's Protagoras, Euthydemus, Hippias and Cratylus

Description

This is an English translation of four of Plato's dialogue (Protagoras, Euthydemus, Hippias Major, and Cratylus) that explores the topic of sophistry and philosophy, a key concept at the source of Western thought. Includes notes and an introductory essay. Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Plato's immediate audience.

Joe Sachs taught for thirty years at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. He has translated Aristotle's "Physics," "Metaphysics" and "On the Soul" and, for the Focus Philosophical Library, Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" and "Poetics", and Plato's "Theaetetus" and "Republic."

Perhaps more than any other dialogue, the Cratylus has been in need of retranslation. Yet because it is a dialogue about words that is also replete with plays on words, with pretended etymologies, and perhaps with more comedy than any other dialogue, translating it is a daunting task. There is no one better suited for this task than Joe Sachs. His translations of Greek philosophical classics are widely acclaimed both for their truthfulness to the original Greek text and for their sensitivity to every nuance of the text. Sachs's translation of the Cratylus is a rare achievement and no doubt will do much to restore to this dialogue its rightful status as one of the major Platonic dialogues. -John Sallis, Boston College Sachs' introductory discussion of sophistry and philosophy in Plato is the best I know of and highly recommended for the serious student of philosophy. -Burt Hopkins, Seattle University