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Rating: 
Summary: A Succinct and Useful Introduction to Plato
Review: Alfred North Whitehead, if he is remembered for nothing else, will always be remembered for his oft-quoted statement that the history of Western philosophy consists of nothing more than "a series of footnotes to Plato." In this small book (it has only fifty-seven pages of text, including footnotes and bibliography), Bernard Williams provides a succinct and useful introduction to Plato's thought and philosophical method.Plato is the earliest Western philosopher for whom we have a complete set of texts. Plato is also, perhaps, the earliest philosopher to examine the full range of philosophical questions. Using the dialogic method, Plato explored questions of truth, beauty, immortality, ethics, and love. He contemplated the "mind-body" problem and, in his master work, "The Republic", sought to establish a sound foundation for the Greek polis. However, while Plato's range was extensive, his dialogic method created open texts, sometimes internally contradictory and always subject to interpretation. Plato adumbrated, in other words, a set of philosophic questions and a method which provided a fertile beginning for Western metaphysics. Professor Williams effectively uses snippets of Plato's dialogues to illustrate Plato's philosophical method, as well as the uncertain conclusions, the "openness", of Plato's texts. Rather than approaching Plato as a systematic philosopher with fixed views, Williams quite accurately notes that "Plato seems to have thought that the final significance of philosophy for one's life does not lie in anything that could be embodied in its findings, but emerges, rather, from its activities." Adhering to that notion, this little book provides a wonderful way, particularly for the initiate to Plato (I think, here, particularly of the high school student exploring Philosophy for the first time), to begin grappling with timeless questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Intro to Plato
Review: This book comes in at a little under 50 pages (45), and like Anthony Gottlieb with "Socrates," Bernard Williams is able to cover quite a lot of ground in that short space. Because of the limits imposed by its brevity, there is not much focus on Plato's personal life, or the context within which his ideas were born. Instead there is an excellent exploration of Plato's writings that weaves through his texts and gives the reader an idea for how to approach his works. It is not meant to be a complete and thorough analysis, but as an introduction or accompaniment to Plato's dialogues, it is a valuable book(let).
Rating:
Summary: Intro to Plato
Review: This book comes in at a little under 50 pages (45), and like Anthony Gottlieb with "Socrates," Bernard Williams is able to cover quite a lot of ground in that short space. Because of the limits imposed by its brevity, there is not much focus on Plato's personal life, or the context within which his ideas were born. Instead there is an excellent exploration of Plato's writings that weaves through his texts and gives the reader an idea for how to approach his works. It is not meant to be a complete and thorough analysis, but as an introduction or accompaniment to Plato's dialogues, it is a valuable book(let).
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