Phaedrus - Oxford Worlds Classics
Plato, Robin Waterfield
Paperback (25 Jun 2009)


Publishers Synopsis

Some of our greatest blessings come from madness Phaedrus is widely recognized as one of Platos most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus and its ostensible subject is love, especially homoerotic love. Socrates reveals it to be a kind of divine madness that can allow our souls to grow wings and soar to their greatest heights. Then the conversation changes direction and turns to a discussion of rhetoric, which must be based on truth passionately sought, thus allying it to philosophy. The dialogue closes by denigrating the value of the written word in any context, compared to the living teaching of a Socratic philosopher. The shifts of topic and register have given rise to doubts about the unity of the dialogue, doubts which are addressed in the introduction to this volume. Full explanatory notes also elucidate issues throughout the dialogue that might puzzle a modern reader.


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Book information

ISBN: 9780199554027
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Pub date: 25 Jun 2009
DEWEY: 888
DEWEY edition: 22
Language: English
Number of pages: 111
Weight: 134g
Height: 195mm
Width: 129mm
Spine width: 11mm