Understanding Plato (OPUS) [Paperback]

David J. Melling (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0192891162 | ISBN-13: 978-0192891167 | Publication Date: December 10, 1987 | Edition: 8th Printing

This incisive book fills the longstanding need for a sound, reliable, and balanced guide to the whole of Plato's philosophical work. Melling describes the different stages in Plato's philosophical development, introduces his different methods and styles of philosophy, and explains why the debates were important then and what sense we can make of them now. Against the background of the ancient Greek world, Melling illuminates Plato the man, his writings, and, above all, why his ideas should be considered important two thousand years after his death.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Melling does a very good job of introducing Plato to the intelligent novice. He is accurate, clear, and fairly comprehensive."--Choice

About the Author

David Melling is former Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Law, and Social Science at Manchester Polytechnic.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 8th Printing edition (December 10, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192891162
• ISBN-13: 978-0192891167
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,254,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short, but excellent, summary of Plato., August 22, 2009

By 

Ted Byrd - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Understanding Plato (OPUS) (Paperback)

The legacy of Plato's philosophical works is so embedded in western civilization that we are bound to encounter it often if we are interested in exploring western philosophy, literature, and history. Personally, I have tried to familiarize myself with Plato's work on my own, and I have found that a little bit of Plato goes a long way for me.

Now that I have read "Understanding Plato", I see why an untutored effort to arbitrarily pick up a dialogue and start reading is likely to lead to an unsatisfying experience.

David Melling's book provides expert guidance which renders Plato's philosophy much more accessible and meaningful to the newcomer. The most important principle which Melling works from, in my opinion, is the realization that Plato's philosophy was not a static system, of which the dialogs were composed to fully explain its fine points. It was rather a work in progress, and each dialog has to be viewed in context of how it stands to his body of work as a whole.

Besides the evolution of Plato's ideas throughout his life, Melling points out other pitfalls for the unwary reader. It is not always possible to know if Plato is representing his main spokesman, Socrates, in a historically accurate light; whether he is using him more as a mouthpiece for Plato's own ideas; or, indeed, in any particular dialogue, whether Socrates or some other character speaks for Plato. In his discussions of the dialogues, Melling points out these issues, and notes that scholars make use of the testimony of contemporaries such as Aristotle and Xenophon to help make a determination of which viewpoint Plato is trying to advance in his depictions of philosophical discussions.

In "Understanding Plato", we are given a chronological digest of Plato's important dialogues; from the earliest, which mostly involve destructive testing of beliefs and assumptions through subjecting them to dialectical question-and-answer sessions; to the culmination of his thought, as expressed in the "Laws", which tries to apply the principles he has developed toward establishing an ideal society.

Reading this book will not make you an expert on Plato, but it will acquaint you with his ideas and some of the reasoning used in arriving at his concepts. One of the most frequent Platonic influences that I have run across in my reading is his conception of the Forms as eternal, perfect entities-in-themselves, of which the elements of the sensible world are imperfect, distorted copies. Whether or not this idea seems pertinent to us today, it has been an important influence on theological and philosophical thought. "Understanding Plato" shows how the concept of the Forms developed within the context of Plato's search for a definition of the nature of objects of knowledge, such as Truth, Beauty, and the Good.

This survey of Platonic thought will at least provide a basic knowledge of the subject without having to expend the time and energy of reading all the dialogues. But, if it should kindle the desire to pursue the matter further, then you will have been prepared to better appreciate the original.

I was happy to discover this clearly written summary, which provides a great deal of information in a relatively few pages.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable and informative introduction to Plato, April 6, 2000

By 

Richard L. King - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Plato (OPUS) (Paperback)

Although Oxford University Press does publish books for the specialist scholar, it also seems to have an aggressive publishing program aimed at making knowledge accessible to the student and general reader. In its "Opus" series, OUP seeks to provide "concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects." Melling's "Understanding Plato" is a welcome addition to the Opus series, and it fulfills the objective of the series admirably. Because I devoted most of my time and energy developing my law practice for two decades, I simply was not able to read much philosophy. Recently, however, I have been able to find the time for philosophy, and I read "Understanding Plato" before re-reading Plato's dialogues. Melling's short book was the perfect re-introduction to Plato. I congratulate Melling and OUP for a job well done.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great outline of the main themes of Plato's philosophy, June 6, 2000

By 

David M. Przekupowski (San Antonio College, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Understanding Plato (OPUS) (Paperback)

I found Melling's book extremely helful. It's been a while since I've read many of the dialogues, so I was looking for something to refresh my memory. This is the perfect choice for anyone who is looking to comprehend or brush up on the main ideas of Plato's writings. I especially found Melling's explanation of the theory of forms helpful. A great book.