Plato's Meno (Cambridge Studies in the Dialogues of Plato)

Given its brevity, Plato's Meno covers an astonishingly wide array of topics: politics, education, virtue, definition, philosophical method, mathematics, the nature and acquisition of knowledge and immortality. Its treatment of these, though profound, is tantalisingly short, leaving the reader with many unresolved questions. This book confronts the dialogue's many enigmas and attempts to solve them in a way that is both lucid and sympathetic to Plato's philosophy. Reading the dialogue as a whole, it explains how different arguments are related to one another and how the interplay between characters is connected to the philosophical content of the work. In a new departure, this book's exploration focuses primarily on the content and coherence of the dialogue in its own right and not merely in the context of other dialogues, making it required reading for all students of Plato, be they from the world of classics or philosophy. Part of The Cambridge Studies in the Dialogues of Plato. Given its brevity, Plato's Meno covers an astonishingly wide array of topics: politics, education, virtue, definition, philosophical method, mathematics, immortality & the nature & acquisition of knowledge. Its treatment of these, tho profound, is tantalizingly short, leaving the reader with many unresolved questions. This book confronts the dialogue's many enigmas & attempts to solve them in a way that is both lucid & sympathetic to Plato's philosophy. Reading the dialogue as a whole, it explains how different arguments are related to one another, & how the interplay between characters is connected to the philosophical content of the work. In a new departure, this book's exploration focuses primarily on the content & coherence of the dialogue in its own right, not merely in the context of Plato's other works, making it required reading for all students of Plato, whether they are from the world of classics or philosophy. Given its brevity, Plato's Meno covers an astonishingly wide array of topics: politics, education, virtue, definition, philosophical method, mathematics, the nature and acquisition of knowledge, and immortality. Its treatment of these, through profound, is tantalisingly short, leaving the reader with many unresolved questions. This book confronts the dialogue's many enigmas and attempts to solve them in a way that is both lucid and sympathetic to Plato's philosophy. Reading the dialogue as a whole, it explains how different arguments are related to one another, and how the interplay between characters is connected to the philosophical content of the work. In a new departure, this book's exploration focused primarily on the content and coherence of the dialogue in its own right, and not merely in the context of other dialogues, making it required reading for all students of Plato, be they from the world of classics or philosophy. Text and essays edited by Malcom Brown: St. Augustine / From On the teacher ; G.W. Leibniz / From Discourse on metaphysics ; Friedrich Nietzsche / From Introduction to the study of the Platonic dialogues ; F.M. Cornford / Anamnesis; Karl Popper / The nature of philosophical problems and their roots in science ; H.-P. Stahl / beginnings of propositional logic in Plato ; Malcolm Brown / Plato disapproves of the slave-boy's answer ; Gilbert Ryle / Teaching and training ; Martin Andic / Inquiry and virtue in the Meno. Plato's Meno provides a profound but tantalizingly brief treatment of a wide array of topics, including politics, education, virtue, and immortality. This book confronts its many enigmas by focusing on the dialogue in its own right, offering solutions which are both lucid and sympathetic to Plato's philosophy In a new departure, this book's exploration focused primarily on the content and coherence of the dialogue in its own right, and not merely in the context of other dialogues, making it required reading for all students of Plato, be they from the world of classics or philosophy."--Jacket Most of Plato's works start with an introductory scene, often of considerable length, giving details about the characters involved in the dialogue, as well as its physical and historical setting.