Philebus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of the series: The Dialogues of Plato

Socratic Dialogues : Socrates, the Virtues, the Sophists

Hippias Minor

First Alcibiades

Euthyphro

Laches – Charmides

Lysis – Hippias Major – Ion

Protagoras – Euthydemus

Gorgias – Menexenus

Meno – Critias

Apology

Crito – Cratylus

The great dialogues : theory of forms, politics, death, dialectic, love.

Phaedo – The Symposium

The Republic – Phaedrus

The late dialogues : Criticism of the theory of forms, cosmology, politics, metaphysics

Theaetetus – Parmenides

The Sophist – Philebus

The Statesman – Timaeus

Laws

Of doubtful authenticity

Second Alcibiades – The Rivals

Theages – Epinomis – Minos

Clitophon

Philebus is among the last of the late Socratic dialogues of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Socrates is the primary speaker in Philebus, unlike in the other late dialogues. The other speakers are Protarchus and Philebus.

The dialogue's central question concerns the relative value of pleasure and understanding, and produces a model for thinking about how complex strucutures are developed. Socrates begins by summarizing the two sides of the dialogue:

Philebus was saying that enjoyment and pleasure and delight, and the class of feelings akin to them, are a good to every living being, whereas I contend, that not these, but wisdom and intelligence and memory, and their kindred, right opinion and true reasoning, are better and more desirable than pleasure for all who are able to partake of them, and that to all such who are or ever will be they are the most advantageous of all things.^[1]

The dialogue is generally considered to contain less humor than earlier dialogues, and to emphasize philosophy and speculation over drama and poetry.^[2][3]

[edit] Citations

1. ^ Jowett, chapter 5.
2. ^ Jowett, chapter 1.
3. ^ Schofield.

[edit] References

• Plato (tr. B. Jowett). Philebus.
• Schofield, Malcolm. (1998, 2002). "Plato." In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved September, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Philebus, available freely at Project Gutenberg