قراءات إضافية
The best collection of Plato’s
writings translated into English is Plato:
Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper (Hackett
Publishing Co., 1997). Hackett and Oxford University Press have also
published translations of individual dialogues, and these are
generally of high quality. The Loeb Classical Library, published by
Harvard University Press, contains translations of the dialogues
with Greek and English on facing pages. R. E. Allen has translated
many of the dialogues with commentary for Yale University Press.
Several of the dialogues appear with extensive commentary in the
Clarendon Plato Series published by the Clarendon Press. Other
noteworthy translations of individual works are Republic, translated by Tom Griffith
(Cambridge University Press, 2000); Republic, translated by C. D. C. Reeve (Hackett
Publishing Co., 2004); and Laws,
translated by Thomas L. Pangle (Basic Books,
1980).
Debra Nails, The People of Plato (Hackett, 2002),
provides information about the individuals who speak or are referred
to in Plato’s works. On the political climate of fifth- and
fourth-century BC Athens, see two works by Josiah Ober: Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens
(Princeton University Press, 1989) and Political Dissent in Democratic Athens
(Princeton University Press, 1998). Other treatments of Plato’s
intellectual and political milieu are Peter Krentz, The Thirty at Athens (Cornell University
Press, 1982); and George Kerferd, The
Sophistic Movement (Cambridge University Press, 1981).
The political writings of the sophists can be found in Michael
Gagarin and Paul Woodruff (eds.), Early
Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
(Cambridge University Press, 1995). On Democritus and other
presocratic thinkers, see W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vols. 1 and 2 (Cambridge
University Press, 1962 and 1965); and G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and
M. Schofield, The Presocratic
Philosophers (2nd ed., Cambridge University Press,
1983).
For collections of essays on
all aspects of Plato’s philosophy, see Richard Kraut (ed.),
The Cambridge Companion to Plato
(Cambridge University Press, 1992); Gail Fine (ed.), Plato, 2 volumes (Oxford University Press,
1999); Gail Fine (ed.), The Oxford Handbook
of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2008); and the ‘Plato’
entry of the online Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
(http://plato.stanford.edu/).
On the early dialogues, see
Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, The Philosophy of Socrates (Westview Press, 2000);
Charles H. Kahn, Plato and the Socratic
Dialogue (Cambridge University Press, 1996); Mark
McPherran, The Religion of Socrates
(Pennsylvania State Press, 1996); and Gregory Vlastos,
Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher
(Cambridge University Press, 1991). Vlastos’ book is an
important attempt to distinguish the philosophies of Socrates and
Plato and to view the early dialogues as the record of Plato’s
gradual philosophical development. For scepticism about such an
approach, see Debra Nails, Agora, Academy,
and the Conduct of Philosophy (Kluwer Academic
Publishers, 1995). For a collection of essays on central Socratic
doctrines and his influence on later philosophical traditions, see
Sara Ahbel-Rappe and Rachana Kamtekar, A
Companion to Socrates (Blackwell Publishing,
2006).
For studies of individual early
works, see C. D. C. Reeve, Socrates in the
Apology (Hackett Publishing Co., 1989); Dominic Scott,
Plato’s Meno (Cambridge
University Press, 2006); and Terry Penner and Christopher Rowe,
Plato’s Lysis (Cambridge
University Press, 2005). Richard Kraut, Socrates and the State (Princeton University Press,
1984), is a study of the Crito
and the political orientation of the early
dialogues.
Ruby Blondell’s The Play of Character in Plato’s Dialogues
(Cambridge University Press, 2002) emphasizes the dramatic aspect of
Plato’s writing, with close attention to his portrayal of his
interlocutors. It applies this method of reading to the Hippias Minor, Republic, Theaetetus, Sophist
and Statesman.
Discussions of Plato’s
metaphysics and epistemology can be found in Allan Silverman,
The Dialectic of Essence: A Study of Plato’s
Metaphysics (Princeton University Press, 2002); Mary
Margaret McCabe, Plato’s Individuals
(Princeton University Press, 1994); Nicholas P. White,
Plato on Knowledge and Reality
(Hackett Publishing Co., 1976); Terry Penner, The Ascent from Nominalism (D. Reidel
Publishing Company, 1987); and R. M. Dancy, Plato’s Introduction of Forms (Cambridge University
Press, 2004).
On Plato’s moral philosophy,
see Terence Irwin, Plato’s Ethics
(Oxford University Press, 1995). A treatment of his political
philosophy, portraying the Laws
as a turn away from the authoritarianism of the Republic, is provided by Christopher
Bobonich, Plato’s Utopia Recast
(Oxford University Press, 2002). For a study of the Laws, see Glenn R. Morrow, Plato’s Cretan City (Princeton University
Press, 1960). S. Sara Monoson, Plato’s
Democratic Entanglements (Princeton University Press,
2000), shows the influence of Athenian institutions and culture on
Plato’s political thinking.
On the Republic, consult Julia Annas, An Introduction to Plato’s Republic (Oxford University
Press, 1981); G. R. F. Ferrari (ed.), The
Cambridge Companion to Plato’s Republic (Cambridge
University Press, 2007); Richard Kraut (ed.), Critical Essays on Plato’s Republic (Rowman
& Littlefield, 1997); C. D. C. Reeve, Philosopher-Kings (Princeton University Press, 1988);
and Gerasimos Santas (ed.), The Blackwell
Guide to Plato’s Republic (Blackwell,
2006).
On the Symposium, see Frisbee C. C. Sheffield, Plato’s Symposium (Oxford University Press,
2006), and J. H. Lesher, Debra Nails, and Frisbee C. C. Sheffield
(eds.), Plato’s Symposium (Center
for Hellenic Studies, 2006).
To study Plato’s refutation of
Protagorean relativism, one should consult two guides to the
Theaetetus: Myles Burnyeat,
The Theaetetus of Plato (Hackett
Publishing Co., 1990), and D. N. Sedley, The
Midwife of Platonism (Clarendon Press,
2004).
For help with some of Plato’s
difficult late dialogues, see T. K. Johansen, Plato’s Natural Philosophy (Cambridge
University Press, 2004); M. S. Lane, Method
and Politics in Plato’s Statesman (Cambridge University
Press, 1998); and Constance C. Meinwald, Plato’s Parmenides (Oxford University Press,
1991).
On Plato’s influence on
nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers, see M. S. Lane,
Plato’s Modern Progeny
(Duckworth, 2001); and Catherine H. Zuckert, Postmodern Platos (University of Chicago Press,
1996).
