Platos Idea of philosophy

HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 1

PLATOS IDEA OF PHILOSOPHY


Project submitted to
xyz
(Faculty: Public International Law)


Project submitted by
abc
(Political Science, major)
Semester V
Roll no. 14



HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY
RAIPUR, C.G.


Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am highly elated to carry out my research on the topic, Platos Idea of Philosophy. I would
like to give my deepest regard to my course teacher XYZ, who held me with her immense
advice, direction and valuable assistance, which enabled me to march ahead with this topic. I
would like to thank my friends, who gave me their precious time for guidance and helped me a
lot in completing my project by giving their helpful suggestion and assistance. I would like to
thank my seniors for their valuable support. I would also like to thank the library staff and
computer lab staff of my university for their valuable support and kind cooperation.


ABC
Semester V






Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 3

CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION.....4

I. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.6
II. OBJECTIVES6

2. RELATION OF PHILOSOPHY AND ART......7
3. PLATOS IDEA OF FLOURISHING...10
4. THE THEORY OF FORMS...12
5. THE THEORY OF THE TRIPARTITE SOUL..14
6. CONCLUSION....15
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEBLIOGRAPHY...18












Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 4

INTRODUCTION

"Platonism" is a term coined by scholars to refer to the intellectual consequences of denying, as
Plato's Socrates often does, the reality of the material world. In several dialogues, most notably
the Republic, Socrates inverts the common man's intuition about what is knowable and what is
real. While most people take the objects of their senses to be real if anything is, Socrates is
contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the hands to be real. In
the Theaetetus, he says such people are "eu a-mousoi", an expression that means literally,
"happily without the muses" (Theaetetus 156a). In other words, such people live without the
divine inspiration that gives him, and people like him, access to higher insights about reality.
1

Socrates's idea that reality is unavailable to those who use their senses is what puts him at odds
with the common man, and with common sense. Socrates says that he who sees with his eyes is
blind, and this idea is most famously captured in his allegory of the cave, and more explicitly in
his description of the divided line. The allegory of the cave (begins Republic 7.514a) is a
paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates argues that the invisible world is the most intelligible
("noeton") and that the visible world ("(h)oraton") is the least knowable, and the most obscure.
Socrates says in the Republic that people who take the sun-lit world of the senses to be good and
real are living pitifully in a den of evil and ignorance. Socrates admits that few climb out of the
den, or cave of ignorance, and those who do, not only have a terrible struggle to attain the
heights, but when they go back down for a visit or to help other people up, they find themselves
objects of scorn and ridicule.
2

According to Socrates, physical objects and physical events are "shadows" of their ideal or
perfect forms, and exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect versions of themselves.
Just as shadows are temporary, inconsequential epiphenomena produced by physical objects,
physical objects are themselves fleeting phenomena caused by more substantial causes, the ideals

1
Nails, Debra (2002). The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics. Hackett Publishing. ISBN
0-87220-564-9. p247
2
Rodriguez- Grandjean, Pablo. Philosophy and Dialogue: Plato's Unwritten Doctrines from a Hermeneutical Point
of View, Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, in Boston, Massachusetts from August 1015, 1998.
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 5

of which they are mere instances. For example, Socrates thinks that perfect justice exists
(although it is not clear where) and his own trial would be a cheap copy of it.
The allegory of the cave (often said by scholars to represent Plato's own epistemology and
metaphysics) is intimately connected to his political ideology (often said to also be Plato's own),
that only people who have climbed out of the cave and cast their eyes on a vision of goodness are
fit to rule. Socrates claims that the enlightened men of society must be forced from their divine
contemplations and be compelled to run the city according to their lofty insights. Thus is born
the idea of the "philosopher-king", the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon him by
the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. This is the main thesis of Socrates in
the Republic, that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the wise choice of a ruler.
3














3
Irwin, T. H., "The Platonic Corpus" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2011),
p. 71.
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 6

OBJECTIVES

1. To have a detailed study of the relation of Philosophy and Art.

2. To discuss the various theories as propounded by Plato which show his idea of
Philosophy.

3. To differentiate the conceptual importance of dialogues in Platos theories and directions
given by him.





RESEARCH METHODOLOGY


The method of research adopted for the project is the analytical and descriptive method.
The texts that were used for the project include articles, research papers and news given in
various websites as well as online journals




Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 7

RELATION OF PHILOSOPHY AND ART
In the Republic, Plato voices his ambivalence toward poetry and poesis in general. Plato admires
art for its great inspirational power, but at the same time detests it because its creator has no
grasp of the truth.
4
He states that the artist produces an insubstantial imitation of objects in
the sensible world that are themselves less real than the forms, which comprise reality itself.
Further, he argues that the appeal of poesis stems solely from its ability to arouse the emotions
by gratifying the irrational, appetitive part of the soul while destroying the rational part.
Consequently, poesis is psychologically damaging in its subversion of reason
5
. The vehemence
of Platos attack results from his desire to supplant art with philosophy as the major source of
education in Athenian society. Poesis itself, in fact, has the same advantages and disadvantages
as philosophy.
Many of Platos charges against poesis apply to philosophy itself and his own methods of writing
philosophy. Just as the enchanting rhythms and captivating images of poesis may seduce an
audience with their beauty, so too may the tight syllogisms and authoritative pronouncements in
the dialectic of philosophy may elicit emotional response. It is unfair and, moreover, erroneous
for Plato to conceive of poesis as exclusive of rationality, and similarly, of philosophy as
independent of the faculty of emotion. Philosophy is a form of art, for the medium through which
it operates, speech, is imitation, and art is, by Platos definition, imitation. It follows that a
philosopher is an imitator whose representation of reality is limited by the extent to which words
approximate an object, and further, the approximation of the object to the reality of the forms.
Conversely, poesis is a form of philosophy, for its comprehension too involves intellectual
contemplation and an active use of the consciousness.
Through thoughtful reflection, both philosophy and art are capable of evoking knowledge of the
forms. Both, therefore, are valid means of operating through and yet transcending imitation in
the pursuit of truth. Although the purpose of philosophy is to attain authentic knowledge of the
good and other forms, the word-images through which the philosopher speaks are ultimately
imitations of objects that possess certain qualities of such forms.

4
Plato. Ion. Trans. Paul Woodruff. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.
5
Plato. Republic. 14 October 2003. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu>.
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 8

Like the representations produced by poesis, speech too is an imperfect mode of communication,
thrice-removed from reality. The mortal soul is perplexed and cannot adequately grasp the
forms, and so it discourses not about reality itself, but about the imperfect manifestations of
reality, which are necessarily inferior. Hence, words are doubly imitations, because they describe
objects that are themselves less real than the forms. Thrasymachus implies that words are
inadequate to transmit truth when he says that Socrates has been talking nonsense and asks the
philosopher to define justice clearly and exactly After Socrates shows Thrasymachus that
injustice is not more profitable than justice, the latter retaliates, Enjoy your banquet of words!.
He implies that he has been tricked by mere technicalities, definitions, into a concession. His
statement hints not only at the insufficiency of words, but also at the aesthetic seductiveness of
speech.
Furthermore, since speech necessarily misrepresents the truth to some degree, so too does the
philosopher, who, though he may try to explain the forms, inevitably fails and remains an
imitator. Plato makes Socrates confess that he has no adequate knowledge of it [the good] but
that he is willing to explain what is apparently an offspring of the good and most like it despite
Socrates disclaimer that it is not right to talk about things one doesnt know as if one does
know them. Nevertheless, the simple act of trying to explain the good without complete
knowledge of it makes him an inexact imitator. The philosopher may even, consciously or
otherwise, distort words for the purpose of persuading his audience and thereby make his
imitation of reality only more inaccurate.
6

Thrasymachus claims that the Socratic method of disputation lends itself to manipulation when
he hostilely remarks, You disgust me, Socrates. Your trick is to take hold of the argument at the
point where you can do it the most harm. He implies that, through the distortion of an argument
for means of persuasion, Socrates can insidiously impose his views on his disciples. Still, Plato
himself uses word-images to convey his ideas and, accepting the philosophers status as an
imitator, even relies on imitation as a valid means by which to attain knowledge. For example,
the dialogical form allows Plato to manipulate each of his characters, including Thrasymachus,
who may voice beliefs that are not necessarily Platos own. Consequently, Plato subverts reality
to some degree in order to attain truth. Moreover, the story told by Glaucon about the ring of

6
Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 9

Gyges, the noble falsehood about the origin of humans from gold, silver, and bronze, the
metaphor of the cave, and the myth of Er all serve as allegorical stories (and hence, imitations of
reality) that are meant to aid Socrates disciples in understanding his scheme for a just society.
Thus, although word-image examples are inherently imitations, Plato does not hesitate to employ
them, though this is his primary objection to the similar use of art.
7


















7
Plato. Symposium. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 10

PLATOS IDEA OF FLOURISHING
"So you see how our discussion concerns that which should be of the greatest importance to any
person that is to say, how one should live."
So says the character of Socrates in Platos sparkling dialogue on power and freedom, the
"Gorgias", and it encapsulates why for me the greatest philosophy is to be found in Platos
workseven if you dont believe (as few of us do) in their underlying metaphysics, the theory of
eternal and unchanging forms
8
.
Plato never writes in his own voice; he never tells us what to think. Rather, he educates us in
how to think. In his glorious dialogues, a wide variety of charactersphilosophers, politicians,
playwrights, soldiers and oratorsdiscuss all the questions that really matter: the nature of love,
beauty, knowledge and justice. These are discussions that leave space for the reader to enter.
Underlying all of them is the question above: what is the best life and what sort of person does
one have to be to live it? This approach to ethics focuses on the whole human being rather than
on duties or the consequences of actions, and engages us emotionally as well as intellectually.
And it is an approach to which the dialogue form is ideally suited: we are presented with an array
of possible role models, and we are enabled to see how character, life and beliefs intertwine and
influence one another. We are given a sense of the shape of a flourishing life.
"Flourishing"eudaimonia in Greekis not the same thing as pleasure, or even happiness. It is
a more objective notion, concerned with the full realisation of our best faculties. We cannot
always be happy, but we can always aim to fulfil our best potentialproviding, of course, that
we have done some informed thinking about what "best" might entail here.
9

For Plato, the best life is one in which reason and its desire for truth guides our sensual desires,
and also our longing for honour and status. Without reasons guidance, these other desires will
be adversely shaped by a corrupting environment and will harm both self and society. Through
reason, we can escape the confinements of nature and nurture, and see further than our own
postcode. But of course reason can only provide this release if it is properly trainedwhich is

8
See Ryle, The Concept of Mind, London: Hutchinson and Co., 1949, Chapter 5
9
Roderick Chisholms entry, Intentionality, in Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, New York:
Macmillan Publishing Co., 1967, Vol. 3, pp. 201-204.
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 11

yet another argument in favour of sharpening your intellectual muscles by becoming an active
participant in Platos matchless dialogues.



















Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 12

THEORIES OF FORMS

The Theory of Forms maintains that two distinct levels of reality exist: the visible world of sights
and sounds that we inhabit and the intelligible world of Forms that stands above the visible world
and gives it being. For example, Plato maintains that in addition to being able to identify a
beautiful person or a beautiful painting, we also have a general conception of Beauty itself, and
we are able to identify the beauty in a person or a painting only because we have this conception
of Beauty in the abstract. In other words, the beautiful things we can see are beautiful only
because they participate in the more general Form of Beauty. This Form of Beauty is itself
invisible, eternal, and unchanging, unlike the things in the visible world that can grow old and
lose their beauty.
10
The Theory of Forms envisions an entire world of such Forms, a world that
exists outside of time and space, where Beauty, Justice, Courage, Temperance, and the like exist
untarnished by the changes and imperfections of the visible world.
Platos conception of Forms actually differs from dialogue to dialogue, and in certain respects it
is never fully explained, so many aspects of the theory are open to interpretation. Forms are first
introduced in the Phaedo, but in that dialogue the concept is simply referred to as something the
participants are already familiar with, and the theory itself is not developed. Similarly, in the
Republic, Plato relies on the concept of Forms as the basis of many of his arguments but feels no
need to argue for the validity of the theory itself or to explain precisely what Forms are.
Commentators have been left with the task of explaining what Forms are and how visible objects
participate in them, and there has been no shortage of disagreement. Some scholars advance the
view that Forms are paradigms, perfect examples on which the imperfect world is modeled.
Others interpret Forms as universals, so that the Form of Beauty, for example, is that quality that
all beautiful things share.
11
Yet others interpret Forms as stuffs, the conglomeration of all
instances of a quality in the visible world. Under this interpretation, we could say there is a little
beauty in one person, a little beauty in anotherall the beauty in the world put together is the

10
C. Hampton, Pleasure, Knowledge, and Being: An Analysis of Plato's Philebus (1990); J. E. G. Evans, A Plato
Primer (2010)
11
Jacob A. Kline, A Commentary on Plato's Meno (1989)
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 13

Form of Beauty. Plato himself was aware of the ambiguities and inconsistencies in his Theory of
Forms, as is evident from the incisive criticism he makes of his own theory in the Parmenides.
In essence, the Theory of Forms represents Platos attempt to cultivate our capacity for abstract
thought. Philosophy was a relatively new invention in Platos day, and it competed with
mythology, tragedy, and epic poetry as the primary means by which people could make sense of
their place in the world. Like philosophy, art and mythology provide concepts that help us to
understand ourselves, but art and mythology do so by appealing to our emotions and desires.
Philosophy appeals to the intellect. The Theory of Forms differentiates the abstract world of
thought from the world of the senses, where art and mythology operate. Plato also argued that
abstract thought is superior to the world of the senses. By investigating the world of Forms, Plato
hopes to attain a greater knowledge.
12









12
B. Jowett, ed. by D. J. Allan and H. E. Daley (4 vol., 4th ed., rev. 1953); A. E. Taylor, Plato: The Man and His Work
(1927)
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 14

THE THEORY OF THE TRIPARTITE
SOUL

In the Republic and the Phaedrus, Plato describes the soul as divided into three parts, labeled
appetitive, spirited, and rational. He offers this division partly as a way of explaining our
psychological complexity and partly to provide a justification for philosophy as the highest of all
pursuits, because it corresponds to the highest part of the soulthe rational part. We might feel
the pull of these three parts when presented with a bowl of ice cream, a roast we accidentally
overcooked ourselves, and a healthy salad. The appetitive part of our soul will crave the sensual
pleasures it will derive from the ice cream, the spirited part of our soul will want to eat the
charred roast out of a sense of pride in our own work, and the rational part of our soul will want
to eat the salad as the healthiest of the three options. In proposing a tripartite soul, Plato
acknowledges and seeks to explain the fact that we all experience inner conflict from time to
time. We would be justified in seeing this theory as the starting point for psychology. However,
Platos theory seeks not only to explain inner conflict but also to present the rational part of the
soul as superior. Philosophy is essentially the practice of refining and foregrounding our
rationality.






Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 15

CONCLUSION

It is noteworthy, to begin with, that Plato is, among other things, a political philosopher. For he
gives expression, in several of his writings (particular Phaedo), to a yearning to escape from the
tawdriness of ordinary human relations. (Similarly, he evinces a sense of the ugliness of the
sensible world, whose beauty pales in comparison with that of the forms.) Because of this, it
would have been all too easy for Plato to turn his back entirely on practical reality, and to
confine his speculations to theoretical questions. Some of his worksParmenides is a stellar
exampledo confine themselves to exploring questions that seem to have no bearing whatsoever
on practical life. But it is remarkable how few of his works fall into this category. Even the
highly abstract questions raised in Sophist about the nature of being and not-being are, after all,
embedded in a search for the definition of sophistry; and thus they call to mind the question
whether Socrates should be classified as a sophistwhether, in other words, sophists are to be
despised and avoided. In any case, despite the great sympathy Plato expresses for the desire to
shed one's body and live in an incorporeal world, he devotes an enormous amount of energy to
the task of understanding the world we live in, appreciating its limited beauty, and improving it.
His tribute to the mixed beauty of the sensible world, in Timaeus, consists in his depiction of it
as the outcome of divine efforts to mold reality in the image of the forms, using simple
geometrical patterns and harmonious arithmetic relations as building blocks. The desire to
transform human relations is given expression in a far larger number of works. Socrates presents
himself, in Plato's Apology, as a man who does not have his head in the clouds (that is part of
Aristophanes' charge against him in Clouds). He does not want to escape from the everyday
world but to make it better. He presents himself, in Gorgias, as the only Athenian who has tried
his hand at the true art of politics.
13


13
Rowe, Christopher, & Malcolm Schofield (eds.), 2000, Greek and Roman Political Thought, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (Contains 7 introductory essays by 7 hands on Socratic and Platonic political
thought.)
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 16

Similarly, the Socrates of Republic devotes a considerable part of his discussion to the critique of
ordinary social institutionsthe family, private property, and rule by the many. The motivation
that lies behind the writing of this dialogue is the desire to transform (or, at any rate, to improve)
political life, not to escape from it (although it is acknowledged that the desire to escape is an
honorable one: the best sort of rulers greatly prefer the contemplation of divine reality to the
governance of the city). And if we have any further doubts that Plato does take an interest in the
practical realm, we need only turn to Laws. A work of such great detail and length about voting
procedures, punishments, education, legislation, and the oversight of public officials can only
have been produced by someone who wants to contribute something to the improvement of the
lives we lead in this sensible and imperfect realm. Further evidence of Plato's interest in practical
matters can be drawn from his letters, if they are genuine. In most of them, he presents himself as
having a deep interest in educating (with the help of his friend, Dion) the ruler of Syracuse,
Dionysius II, and thus reforming that city's politics.
Just as any attempt to understand Plato's views about forms must confront the question whether
his thoughts about them developed or altered over time, so too our reading of him as a political
philosopher must be shaped by a willingness to consider the possibility that he changed his mind.
For example, on any plausible reading of Republic, Plato evinces a deep antipathy to rule by the
many. Socrates tells his interlocutors that the only politics that should engage them are those of
the anti-democratic regime he depicts as the paradigm of a good constitution. And yet in Laws,
the Athenian visitor proposes a detailed legislative framework for a city in which non-
philosophers (people who have never heard of the forms, and have not been trained to understand
them) are given considerable powers as rulers. Plato would not have invested so much time in
the creation of this comprehensive and lengthy work, had he not believed that the creation of a
political community ruled by those who are philosophically unenlightened is a project that
deserves the support of his readers.
14
Has Plato changed his mind, then? Has he re-evaluated the
highly negative opinion he once held of those who are innocent of philosophy? Did he at first
think that the reform of existing Greek cities, with all of their imperfections, is a waste of time
but then decide that it is an endeavor of great value? (And if so, what led him to change his
mind?) Answers to these questions can be justified only by careful attention to what he has his

14
Rowe, Christopher, & Malcolm Schofield (eds.), 2000, Greek and Roman Political Thought, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (Contains 7 introductory essays by 7 hands on Socratic and Platonic political thought.)
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 17

interlocutors say. But it would be utterly implausible to suppose that these developmental
questions need not be raised, on the grounds that Republic and Laws each has its own cast of
characters, and that the two works therefore cannot come into contradiction with each other.
According to this hypothesis (one that must be rejected), because it is Socrates (not Plato) who is
critical of democracy in Republic, and because it is the Athenian visitor (not Plato) who
recognizes the merits of rule by the many in Laws, there is no possibility that the two dialogues
are in tension with each other. Against this hypothesis, we should say: Since both Republic and
Laws are works in which Plato is trying to move his readers towards certain conclusions, by
having them reflect on certain argumentsthese dialogues are not barred from having this
feature by their use of interlocutorsit would be an evasion of our responsibility as readers and
students of Plato not to ask whether what one of them advocates is compatible with what the
other advocates. If we answer that question negatively, we have some explaining to do: what led
to this change? Alternatively, if we conclude that the two works are compatible, we must say
why the appearance of conflict is illusory.
15












15
Klagge, James C. and Nicholas D. Smith (eds.), 1992, Methods of Interpreting Plato and His Dialogue, Oxford
Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 1992, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Platos Idea of philosophy
HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY Page 18

BIBLIOGRAPHY & WEBLIOGRAPHY

Nails, Debra (2002). The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics.
Hackett Publishing. ISBN 0-87220-564-9. p247
Rodriguez- Grandjean, Pablo. Philosophy and Dialogue: Plato's Unwritten Doctrines
from a Hermeneutical Point of View, Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, in
Boston, Massachusetts from August 1015, 1998.
Irwin, T. H., "The Platonic Corpus" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato
(Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 71.
Plato. Ion. Trans. Paul Woodruff. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.
Plato. Republic. 14 October 2003. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu>.
Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.
Plato. Symposium. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company,
1997.
See Ryle, The Concept of Mind, London: Hutchinson and Co., 1949, Chapter 5
Roderick Chisholms entry, Intentionality, in Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1967, Vol. 3, pp. 201-204.
C. Hampton, Pleasure, Knowledge, and Being: An Analysis of Plato's Philebus (1990); J.
E. G. Evans, A Plato Primer (2010)
Jacob A. Kline, A Commentary on Plato's Meno (1989)
B. Jowett, ed. by D. J. Allan and H. E. Daley (4 vol., 4th ed., rev. 1953); A. E. Taylor,
Plato: The Man and His Work (1927)
Rowe, Christopher, & Malcolm Schofield (eds.), 2000, Greek and Roman Political
Thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Contains 7 introductory essays by 7
hands on Socratic and Platonic political thought.)
Rowe, Christopher, & Malcolm Schofield (eds.), 2000, Greek and Roman Political
Thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Contains 7 introductory essays by 7
hands on Socratic and Platonic political thought.)
Klagge, James C. and Nicholas D. Smith (eds.), 1992, Methods of Interpreting Plato and
His Dialogue, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 1992,
Oxford: Clarendon Press.