Which is your favourite Platonic dialogue, and why?

[Qoeleth]

I’m interested in what others get out of Plato’s various dialogues.

My own favourite would be Phaedo- it seems to sum up the ontology and epistemology of Plato completely, and in a convincing and touching literary way.

 

[empther]

The Apology, in which Socrates does everything but apologize, is my favorite.

Socrates is on trial for his life. But what he really does is show the importance of searching for the truth. This is the heart of philosophy.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

1. The Republic.
2. The Symposium.
3. Critias.

In that order.

There ya go.

 

[fakename]

I’m interested in what others get out of Plato’s various dialogues.

My own favourite would be Phaedo- it seems to sum up the ontology and epistemology of Plato completely, and in a convincing and touching literary way.

1. The Phaedo, for the same reasons.
2. The Republic, since it is so politically incorrect and just fascinating in it’s attention to details like music, and its connection to the soul and the use of math to determine who should mate with who, etc.
3. The Timaeus since it is so sci-fi, it could and should be made into a movie. Also it talks about Atlantis.
4. Euthydemus since it illustrates how the sophists worked and what they believed.

 

[Katholish]

Phaedo.

I think the argument for the immortality of the soul, arguing from the soul’s affinity with immaterial knowledge, is the single most valuable contribution Plato has for present-day arguments.