The Work Of Plato
The literary works on science, art, philosophy, etc., that Plato brought to the world are held in high regard as some of the most notable and influential literature in the history of mankind. Many of his series of Dialogues are discussions of Socrates with others, whether fictional or actual occurrences, Plato never introduces himself into any of the dialogues. He also never states whether or not he was in attendance during the discussions, except for in his dialogue, Apology, in which is mostly discussed the Trial of Socrates. Distinguishing which views are Plato’s and which views are Socrates’ from these dialogues is guesswork for scholars and modern philosophers.
The work of Plato that has been collected over the years consists of forty-one Dialogues, thirteen letters, and a book of Definitions. However, as a result of the thorough study done over the years of the work, it has ben discovered that not all of them are actually Plato’s work. Although unfortunately, if not Plato’s work, than it’s anyone’s guess whom they might belong to. The majority of the work though, is done by Plato. The Dialogues have no specific order of which they were written in, but have a basic structure by which they are known as simply Early, Middle, and Late. The early set of Dialogues are said to mostly be in honour of Socrates, a memorial penned for his teachings and philosophies before his trial.
- Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phædo
- Cratylus, Theætetus, Sophist, Statesman
- Parmenides, Philebus, Symposium, Phædrus
- Alcibiades, 2nd Alcibiades, Hipparchus, Rival Lovers
- Theages, Charmides, Laches, Lysis
- Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno
- Hippias major, Hippias minor, Ion, Menexenus
- Clitophon, Republic, Timæus, Critias
- Minos, Laws, Epinomis, Letters
Later on however, Diogenes attributes a set of trilogies to Aristophanes of Byzantium which covers a few of the Dialogues that supposedly came from Plato:
- Republic, Timæus, Critias
- Sophist, Statesman, Cratylus
- Laws, Minos, Epinomis
- Theætetus, Euthyphro, Apology
- Crito, Phædo, Letters