(Ebook) Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy by Robin Waterfield ISBN 9780197564752, 0197564755

(Ebook) Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy by Robin Waterfield ISBN 9780197564752, 0197564755

This is not a book about Plato’s philosophy but about Plato, though, as abiography of a philosopher, references to aspects of his thought areinevitable. But I focus more on general characteristics than the particularsand the ever-contended details. I am more likely to tantalize readers withsuggestive and intriguing ideas of Plato’s than elaborate them or spell outtheir pros and cons.After about 2,400 years, Plato’s books have scarcely aged; they are asbrilliant, witty, profound, and perplexing as they have always been. Most ofthem are not only inspired but inspiring; they are very enjoyable to read,and even the few drier ones contain ingenious and delightful passages. Nophilosopher is as accessible to non-specialists as Plato. I hope that this bookwill stimulate readers to turn next to reading the dialogues themselves andto find out more about Plato’s work. To this end, I have appended a fairlylong bibliography. In terms of my personal biography, the book is a kind ofsummation, the fruit of many years of thinking and writing about Plato (notthat he has always been my exclusive focus). Almost the first article I hadpublished, more than forty years ago, was on the chronology of Plato’sdialogues—a topic that, naturally, has exercised me in this biography. So,although I now disagree with the thesis of that article, the book completes acircle for me.