Phaedrus (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Plato (Author), Christopher Rowe (Translator)

Book Description

Release date: December 27, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0140449744 | ISBN-13: 978-0140449747 | Edition: Revised

One of Plato’s most profound and beautiful works, Phaedrus takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus, an amateur rhetorical enthusiast, on the topic of passionate or romantic love. Concerned with establishing principles of rhetoric, it argues that rhetoric is only acceptable as an art when it is firmly based on the truth inspired by love, the common experience of true philosophic activity. It is in this dialogue that Plato employs the famous image of love as the driver of the chariot of souls.

• New edition with a new translation
• Includes an introduction, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and notes on the text and translation that discuss the structure of the dialogue

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Plato (c. 427–347 b.c.) founded the Academy in Athens, the prototype of all Western universities, and wrote more than twenty philosophical dialogues.

Christopher Rowe is professor of Greek at the University of Durham.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Revised edition (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140449744
• ISBN-13: 978-0140449747
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.3 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #420,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Get another translation. July 23, 2006

By Shadowgraphs

Format:Paperback

This is one of my favorite Platonic dialogues, an analysis of both rhetoric and love which leads to some compelling discussions. However, the translation offered by Pengin Classics is hideously lacking. I can't put my finger on exactly where it goes wrong, but the translator makes it a pain to get through just one page. Everything seems laborous and technical, including the normally exquisite speeches.

Get another translation instead. Might I suggest the one published by Hackett? Or perhaps Cornell University Press? Both of those translations take care to make the dialogue as lively annd exciting as it rightfully should be.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars About love and philosophy, one of Plato's best November 16, 2012

By Tahsali

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Ancient literature is the best thing that a person now could read. It refocuses you away from the capitalistic society with no morals and no honor. This society is all about buying and selling things, not that we don't need to buy things or sell, but the emphasis is too much on these things. Honor and dignity is gone. Justice is never heard of anymore. Reclaim these by reading Plato and learning philosophy. You will soon see how your world will be different.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Writing and Eros July 3, 2009

By Steiner VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This Platonic dialogue is one of the most intriguing and crisply enjoyable. It is here that Socrates relates his ideas on the complex intermingling of the beautiful and the good, as well as brilliant reflections on speech and writing. "Since it is the function of speech to lead souls by persuasion, he who is to be a rhetorician must know the various forms of soul." A privileging of speech over writing is preeminent in Western thought, perhaps it originates here. Writing is exterior to the soul, to the 'psyche,' thus it is mere mimesis. This is a wonderfully mysterious and complex text. Be sure to consult Fowler's translation in the loeb edition.