Five Dialogues

Name: Five Dialogues
Rating: 4.4 (125 reviews)

by Plato Book 6 in the Penguin Classics: Ancient World series.

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4.3(125)

Plato’s Five Dialogues brings together Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno and Phaedo. The collection follows Socrates from arguments about piety and virtue through his trial, imprisonment and death in 399 BC, while also presenting the questioning method through which he exposes contradictions in conventional beliefs.

Across the dialogues, Plato examines whether virtue can be taught, what citizens owe the state, how knowledge is acquired and whether the soul survives death. The dramatic setting gives these philosophical problems increasing urgency as Socrates refuses to abandon his principles even when acquiescence might save his life.

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