Plato's Dialogues

Plato's works, perhaps the most consistently popular and influential philosophic writings ever published, consist of a series of dialogues in which the discussions between Socrates and others are presented with infinite charm. Most of our knowledge of Socrates is from these dialogues, and which views are Socrates' and which are Plato's is anybody's guess.

Plato cautiously never introduced himself into any of the dialogues. The works that have been transmitted to us through the middle ages under the name of Plato consist in a set of 41 so-called "dialogues" plus a collection of 13 letters and a book of Definitions. But it was already obvious in antiquity that not all of these were from Plato's own hand.

The exact ordering of the dialogues is not known, but they can be roughly assigned to three periods, the early, middle, and late. The early dialogues, began after 399 B.C., are seen by many as memorials to the life and teaching of Socrates.

Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phædo

Cratylus, Theætetus, Sophist, Statesman

Parmenides, Philebus, Symposium, Phædrus

Alcibiades, 2nd Alcibiades, Hipparchus, Rival Lovers

Theages, Charmides, Laches, Lysis

Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno

Hippias major, Hippias minor, Ion, Menexenus

Clitophon, Republic, Timæus, Critias

Minos, Laws, Epinomis, Letters

But the same Diogenes mentions also a grouping in trilogies (groups of three), which he attributes to Aristophanes of Byzantium (3rd century BC) and which covers only a subset of the dialogues. This one goes as follows :

Republic, Timæus, Critias

Sophist, Statesman, Cratylus

Laws, Minos, Epinomis

Theætetus, Euthyphro, Apology

Crito, Phædo, Letters

The tetralogies of Greek theater were made up of one comedy and a trilogy of tragedies. If there is anything in the idea that Plato grouped his dialogues according to such an arrangement, it might explain why we sometimes hear of tetralogies, sometimes of trilogies.

Plato, The Collected Dialogues including the Letters, edited by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, with Introduction and Prefatory Notes, Bollingen Series LXXI, Princeton University Press, 1961.

Apology, translated by Hugh Tredennick,

Charmides, translated by B. Jowett,

Cratylus, translated by B. Jowett,

Critias, translated by A. E. Taylor,

Crito, translated by Hugh Tredennick,

Epinomis, translated by A. E. Taylor,

Euthydemus, translated by W. H. D. Rouse,

Euthyphro, translated by Lane Cooper,

Gorgias, translated by W. D. Woodhead,

Hippias Major (or Greater Hippias), translated by B. Jowett,

Hippias Minor (or Lesser Hippias), translated by B. Jowett,

Ion, translated by Lane Cooper,

Laches, translated by B. Jowett,

Laws, translated by A. E. Taylor,

Letters, translated by L. A. Post,

Lysis, translated by J. Wright,

Menexenus, translated by B. Jowett,

Meno, translated by W. K. C. Guthrie,

Parmenides, translated by F. M. Cornford,

Phædo, translated by Hugh Tredennick,

Phædrus, translated by R. Hackforth,

Philebus, translated by R. Hackforth,

Protagoras, translated by W. K. C. Guthrie,

Republic, translated by Paul Shorey,

Sophist, translated by F. M. Cornford,

Statesman, translated by J. B. Skemp,

Symposium, translated by Michael Joyce,

Theætetus, translated by F. M. Cornford,

Timæus, translated by B. Jowett,

Plato, Complete Works, Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by John M. Cooper, Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 1997.

Alcibiades, translated by D. S. Hutchinson

Alcibiades (2), translated by Anthony Kenny

Apology, translated by G. M. A. Grube

Axiochus, translated by Jackson P. Hershbell

Charmides, translated by Rosamond Kent Sprague

Clitophon, translated by Francisco J. Gonzalez

Cratylus, translated by C. D. C. Reeve

Critias, translated by Diskin Clay

Crito, translated by G. M. A. Grube

Definitions, translated by D. S. Hutchinson

Demodocus, translated by Jonathan Barnes

Epigrams, translated by J. M. Edmonds, rev. John M. Cooper

Epinomis, translated by Richard D. McKirahan, Jr.

Eryxias, translated by Mark Joyal

Euthydemus, translated by Rosamond Kent Sprague

Euthyphro, translated by G. M. A. Grube

Gorgias, translated by Donald J. Zeyl

Halcyon, translated by Brad Inwood

Hipparchus, translated by Nicholas D. Smith

Hippias Major (or Greater Hippias), translated by Paul Woodruff

Hippias Minor (or Lesser Hippias), translated by Nicholas D. Smith

Ion, translated by Paul Woodruff

On Justice, translated by Andrew S. Becker

Laches, translated by Rosamond Kent Sprague

Laws, translated by Trevor J. Saunders

Letters, translated by Glenn R. Morrow

Lysis, translated by Stanley Lombardo

Menexenus, translated by Paul Ryan

Meno, translated by G. M. A. Grube

Minos, translated by Malcolm Schofield

Parmenides, translated by Mary Louise Gill and Paul Ryan

Phaedo, translated by G. M. A. Grube

Phaedrus, translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff

Philebus, translated by Dorothea Frede

Protagoras, translated by Stanley Lombardo and Karen Bell

Republic, translated by G. M. A. Grube, rev. C. D. C. Reeve

Rival Lovers, translated by Jeffrey Mitscherling

Sisyphus, translated by David Gallop

Sophist, translated by Nicholas P. White

Statesman, translated by C. J. Rowe

Symposium, translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff

Theaetetus, translated by M. J. Levett, rev. Myles F. Burnyeat

Theages, translated by Nicholas D. Smith

Timaeus, translated by Donald J. Zeyl

On Virtue, translated by Mark Reuter

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