Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo
Set in the dramatic final days of Socrates's life, these four texts reflect a range of central philosophical themes and narrative styles. Reading them in full is thus perfectly suited for introducing beginners to Plato's philosophical thought.
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Resources for this course
Type | Resource | Description | People | Full details |
---|---|---|---|---|
Plato |
Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by R. Kraut, 2013. |
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Introductory Presentation: Plato and Socrates |
The slides from the first meeting. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Euthyphro 2a–11a (Coursework 1) |
Question and Background information about (roughly) the first half of Euthyphro. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Socrates |
Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by D. Nails, 2014. |
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A Map of Euthyphro (Handout 2) |
An analytical sketch of the dialogue. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Apology 17a–35d (Coursework 3) |
Questions and background information about Socrates's first speech in the Apology. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Rough Timeline (Handout 1) |
Some key dates between 480 BCE and 1578 in relation to Plato and Socrates. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Euthyphro 11b–16a (Coursework 2) |
Questions and background information for the second half of Euthyphro. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Crito 43a–54e (Coursework 5) |
Questions and background information for Crito. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Phaedo I 57a–69e (Coursework 6) |
Questions and information for the first part of Phaedo. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Socratic Method III: Irony (Handout 9) |
An attempt to clarify the nature of Socrates's irony, and to contrast it with 'eironeia'. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Phaedo II 70a–84b (Coursework 7) |
Questions and some background information for the second part of Phaedo. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Socratic Ethics Revisited (Handout 11) |
Some afterthoughts connecting the Apology and the Crito; and some passages by Descartes informed by Phaedo. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Socratic Piety and Justice (Handout 6) |
Is Euthyphro just aporetic? An attempt to extract Socrates's positive view of piety, with a view to the Apology. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Apology II 35e–42a (Coursework 4) |
Questions and background for Socrates's second and third speeches on the Apology. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
A Map of Crito (Handout 8) |
One-page sketch of the Crito. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
A Map of Socrates's Apology (Handout 4) |
An analytical overview of the Apology. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Socratic Method: Aporeia, Elenchus and Dialectics (Handout 3) |
A characterisation of some aspects of Socrates's (and Platos's) method, with a passage from Meno. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Socratic Method II: Midwifery (Maieutics) (Handout 7) |
The famous passage from Theatetus, some questions, and further information. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Entry about Platonic Forms in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by A. Silverman, 2014. |
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Platonic Ideas or Forms (Handout 12) |
A sketch of Plato's theory of forms and its rationale. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Phaedo III 84c–105c (Coursework 8) |
Questions and background information of the third part of Phaedo. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
The Immortality Arguments: More on Dialectics (Handout 13) |
Reflections on dialectics in Phaedo from 70a onwards. |
Peter Wyss | view | |
Sophists Revisited, and Socratics (Handout 14) |
Attempt to rehabilitate the Sophists; some of Socrates's influences diagrammatically sketched. |
Peter Wyss | view |