Henry Carter Hull

Plato's most famous work and one of the most important books ever written on the subject of philosophy and political theory, "The Republic" is a fictional dialogue between Socrates and other various Athenians and foreigners which examines the meaning of justice. It is primarily from the writings of Plato that Socrates's ideas are passed down to us. Written around 380 BC, the work is an important contribution to the age old question of how to best...

Plato's "Protagoras" is a series of debates or arguments between Socrates and the elderly Protagoras, who was a well-known Sophist. Socrates was deeply critical of the Sophists, who were teachers or wise men who charged money for educating students and dispensing wisdom. He believed them to be corrupt and dangerous men, who could lead their pupils astray. In Plato's dialogue, Socrates challenges Protagoras and his beliefs in front of an audience of...

Parmenides (Greek: Παρμενίδης) is one of the dialogues of Plato. It is widely considered to be one of the more, if not the most, challenging and enigmatic of Plato's dialogues. The Parmenides purports to be an account of a meeting between the two great philosophers of the Eleatic school, Parmenides and Zeno of Elea, and a young Socrates. The occasion of the meeting was the reading by Zeno of his treatise defending Parmenidean monism against...

The Philebus appears to be one of the later writings of Plato, in which the style has begun to alter, and the dramatic and poetical element has become subordinate to the speculative and philosophical. In the development of abstract thought great advances have been made on the Protagoras or the Phaedrus, and even on the Republic. But there is a corresponding diminution of artistic skill, a want of character in the persons, a laboured march in the dialogue,...

The Charmides is a dialogue of Plato, in which Socrates engages a handsome and popular boy in a conversation about the meaning of sophrosyne, a Greek word usually translated into English as "temperance", "self-control", or "restraint". As is typical with Platonic early dialogues, the two never arrive at a completely satisfactory definition, but the discussion nevertheless raises many important points.

A classic work of ancient Greek literature from Plato, one of the most famous of all ancient Greek philosophers, the "Phaedo" is the moving story of the last moments of Socrates life as recounted by Phaedo, a student of Socrates and a first-hand witness to his final hours. "Phaedo" is the fourth and last dialogue by Plato of Socrates final days, following "Euthyphro", "Apology", and "Crito". In "Phaedo" we see the famous philosopher in his last hours...

What is Friendship? Youthfulness and sense of beauty pervades, rich in the description of Greek life. The question is again raised of the relation of knowledge to virtue and good, which also recurs in the Laches; and Socrates appears again as the elder friend of the two boys, Lysis and Menexenus. In the Charmides, as also in the Laches, he is described as middle-aged; in the Lysis he is advanced in years.

The Seventh Letter touches upon a variety of themes, not always in an organized fashion. It is by far the longest of the epistles of Plato and gives an autobiographical account of his activities in Sicily as part of the intrigues between Dion and Dionysius of Syracuse for the tyranny of Syracuse. Of all the letters attributed to Plato, the Seventh Letter is widely considered the only one that might be authentic.

Cratylus is the name of a dialogue by Plato. Most modern scholars agree that it was written mostly during Plato's so-called middle period.[1] In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to tell them whether names are "conventional" or "natural", that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an intrinsic relation to the things they signify. The individual Cratylus was the first intellectual...

An award-winning public reader of Homer discusses poetry and the nature of performance with the probing and insightful Socrates in Plato's immortal dialogue. Ion, a professional rhapsode, performer of dramatic recitations of Homer and lecturer on poetry, has a revealing discussion with Socrates. Acclaimed for the power of his performances, Ion becomes so involved in performing that he feels the emotions described in his story and expects them to...