Product Description

This lively and accessible introduction to Plato focuses on the philosophy and argument of his writings, drawing the reader into Plato's way of doing philosophy, and the general themes of his thinking. This is not a book to leave the reader standing in the outer court of introduction and background information, but leads directly into Plato's argument. It looks at Plato as a thinker grappling with philosophical problems in a variety of ways, rather than a philosopher with a fully worked-out system. It includes a brief account of Plato's life and the various interpretations that have been drawn from the sparse remains of information. It stresses the importance of the founding of the Academy and the conception of philosophy as a subject. Julia Annas discusses Plato's style of writing: his use of the dialogue form, his use of what we today call fiction, and his philosophical transformation of myths. She also looks at his discussions of love and philosophy, his attitude to women, and to homosexual love, explores Plato's claim that virtue is sufficient for happiness, and touches on his arguments for the immortality of the soul and his ideas about the nature of the universe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24698 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

About the Author
Julia Annas is Regents Professor of Philosophy at The University of Arizona. She has also taught at the University of Oxford and Columbia University. She has published eight books and many articles on a wide variety of topics in ancient philosophy, particularly epistemology, philosophy of the mind, and ethics, and is author of Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction.

Customer Reviews

Annas' fresh approach to Plato.
This VSI differs from some of the others that were originally published as "Past Masters".It is less heavy-going in style, less masculine in tone, and is not just aimed at an informed audience. Plato studies seem to have been completely re-thought in recent years and this is reflected in this book which presents us with a number of different versions of Plato, and a number of different readings of his philosophy. Rewarding and made me want to sit down and read Plato afresh.

Engagingly Written
This is a really accessible book. The writing style is clear and concise. The ideas are neatly compartmentalised and explained thoroughly, given the limited amount of space available, and the work is interesting and engaging.

Of necessity this skims the surface but it does what it says on the tin and provides a sense of Platonic ideas and the works available as well as the way that ideas about Plato have changed over the centuries.

Highly recommended for those who have never come across Plato before or who are struggling to get to grips with his work and want an 'in'.

A random walk through Plato
Plato: A very short introduction by Julia Annas, Oxford, 2003, 120 ff.

A random walk through Plato
By Howard A. Jones

This is a readable account by a professor of philosophy at Oxford and Arizona universities of the life and work of one of the first great Greek philosophers, whose influence is felt still today. For example, the Theory of Forms introduced in the Timaeus resonates with the mystical idea of an underlying truth of which the material world is a representation, an idea gaining increasing acceptance in the West. Several subsequent philosophers, like Locke and Kant, developed this concept and contemporary scholar Roger Penrose views mathematics in this way. However, the Forms are dealt with by Annas in any depth only in the last few pages of the book.

Plato's writing comprises some two dozen dialogues, but the treatment here is by subject matter rather than a working though of each book. Annas gives a good resume of the main themes in Plato's work but I was glad that I had read most of the dialogues and an earlier biography by David Melling before tackling Annas: I think I would have found the treatment rather rambling if I hadn't already had the pegs on which to hang the information. I question whether a whole chapter on sexual practice in ancient Greece is really relevant to Plato's philosophy.

Certainly this is an authoritative account of a great thinker who should be much more widely read in schools and colleges.

Dr Howard A. Jones is the author of The Thoughtful Guide to God (2006) and The Tao of Holism (2008), both published by O Books, Winchester, UK.

Understanding Plato (OPUS)
Classical Thought (OPUS)