Atlantis was first introduced by the Greek philosopher Plato in two "dialogues" he wrote in the fourth century B.C. His tale of a great empire that sank beneath the waves -- a tale that Plato never even finished -- has sparked thousands of years of debate over whether Atlantis really existed. But did Plato mean his tale as history, or just as a parable to help illustrate his philosophy?  In "The Atlantis Dialogue," you'll find everything Plato said about Atlantis, in the context he intended. Now you can read and judge for yourself!  

Atlantis Dialogue : Plato's Original Story of the Lost City and Continent

PLAT

Aaron Shepard

Shepard Publications

Phaedo

General Books LLC

Cratylus         By Plato        Greek Classics        Translated by Benjamin Jowett       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.          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.       When discussing how a word would relate to its subject, Socrates compares the original creation of a word to the work of an artist. An artist uses color to express the essence of his subject in a painting. In much the same way, the creator of words uses letters containing certain sounds to express the essence of a word's subject. There is a letter that is best for soft things, one for liquid things, and so on.             He comments, "the best possible way to speak consists in using names all (or most) of which are like the things they name (that is, are appropriate to them), while the worst is to use the opposite kind of names."         One countering position, held by Hermogenes, is that names have come about due to custom and convention. They do not express the essence of their subject, so they can be swapped with something unrelated by the individuals or communities who use them.

Cratylus

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Timaeus

PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE:   LYSIMACHUS, son of Aristides;   MELESIAS, son of Thucydides;   THEIR SONS;   NICIAS; LACHES; SOCRATES.

Laches

- Translated with an introduction by Benjamin Jowett.       The Apology is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he defended himself in 399 BC against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" (24b). "Apology" here has its earlier meaning (now usually expressed by the word "apologia") of speaking in defense of a cause or of one's beliefs or actions. The general term apology, in context to literature, defends a world from attack (opposite of satire-which attacks the world).        Xenophon, who wrote his own Apology of Socrates, indicates that a number of writers had published accounts of Socrates' defense. According to one prominent scholar, "Writing designed to clear Socrates' name was doubtless a particular feature of the decade or so following 399 BC". Many scholars guess that Plato's Apology was one of the first, if not the very first, dialogues Plato wrote, though there is little if any evidence. Plato's Apology is commonly regarded as the most reliable source of information about the historical Socrates.         Except for two brief exchanges with Meletus (at 24d-25d and 26b-27d), where the monologue becomes a dialogue, the text is written in the first person from Socrates' point of view, as though it were Socrates' actual speech at the trial. During the course of the speech, Socrates twice mentions Plato as being present (at 34a and 38b). There is, however, no real way of knowing how closely Socrates' words in the Apology match those of Socrates at the actual trial, even if it was Plato's intention to be accurate in this respect. One contemporary criticism of Plato's Apology is perhaps implied by the opening paragraphs of Xenophon's Apology, assuming that the former antedated the latter; Xenophon remarks that previous writers had failed to make clear the reason for Socrates' boastful talk in the face of the death penalty. Xenophon's account disagrees in some other respects with the details of Plato's Apology, but he nowhere explicitly claims it to be inaccurate.

Apology

Gorgias

The Laches is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. Participants in the discourse present competing definitions of the concept of courage. Lysimachus, son of Aristides, and Melesias, son of Thucydides (not the historian Thucydides), request advice from Laches and Nicias on whether or not they should have their sons (who are named after their famous grandfathers) trained to fight in armor. After each gives their opinion, Nicias for and Laches against, they seek Socrates for counsel. Socrates questions what the initial purpose of the training is meant to instill in the children. Once they determine that the purpose is to instill virtue, and more specifically courage, Socrates discusses with Laches and Nicias what exactly courage is. The bulk of the dialogue is then the three men (Laches, Nicias and Socrates) debating various definitions of courage.

Lysis

<p>In several of the dialogues of Plato, doubts have arisen among his interpreters as to which of the various subjects discussed in them is the main thesis. The speakers have the freedom of conversation; no severe rules of art restrict them, and sometimes we are inclined to think, with one of the dramatis personae in the Theaetetus, that the digressions have the greater interest. Yet in the most irregular of the dialogues there is also a certain natural growth or unity; the beginning is not forgotten at the end, and numerous allusions and references are interspersed, which form the loose connecting links of the whole. We must not neglect this unity, but neither must we attempt to confine the Platonic dialogue on the Procrustean bed of a single idea.</p>

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Atlantis Dialogue : Plato's Original Story of the Lost City and Continent

Phaedo

Cratylus

Timaeus

Laches

Apology

Gorgias

Laches

Lysis

Gorgias