Platonic Writings/Platonic Readings

Originally published by Routledge in 1988, this pioneering collection of essays now features a new preface and updated bibliography by the editor, reflecting the most significant developments in Plato scholarship during the past decade.

About the Author :
Charles L. Griswold Jr. is Professor of Philosophy at Boston University, USA.

Review :
“Praise for the original edition: This book is a valuable and long overdue collection of essays which address a central issue in the reading of Platonic texts: the question of why Plato wrote dialogues, and what that fact means for our interpretation of Plato. Views on this issue inform, in one way or another, all our readings of Plato, and this work performs the valuable service of collecting a wide range of essays which deal explicitly with the question. Some of the essays are explicitly methodological; others give readings of Platonic dialogues which are sensitive to the fact that they are dialogues. The second half of the work consists of an interesting and very valuable series of exchanges between readers of Plato which concern the question of the dialogues as dialogues.” —L. A. Kosman, Haverford College “From reviews of the original edition: The essays in this collection are provocative, even daring on occasion, yet at all times maintain a remarkably high standard of scholarship. Although the essays and exchanges focus historically on Plato, they also engage several larger issues of interpretation, authority, and textuality. This volume should therefore be relevant not only for specialists in ancient philosophy but for scholars of literature, literary theory, hermeneutics, and the humanities in general.” —Review of Metaphysics “Since the first printing of this book, several collections of articles have appeared that share its aims, but it remains one of the very best. Its contributors are distinguished, and represent quite different schools of thought on the issue addressed here: how Plato’s use of the dialogue-form should affect our interpretations of Plato. The editor, Charles Griswold, makes it his business to have the contributors meet and talk within the pages of this book. They yield a little to each other and resist a lot. The result is instructive. Penn State Press is to be congratulated for making this truly useful book available once more.” —G. R. F. Ferrari, University of California, Berkeley “The republication of this seminal anthology, which editor Charles Griswold has updated with a useful new preface posing questions for scholarship to come and with a bibliography of relevant scholarship since 1988, is very welcome. . . . In form as well as content, this volume continues to set a standard for volumes of this kind.” —Mitchell H. Miller, Vassar College “Griswold's book is a welcome addition to the current literature. The contributions are for the most part of high quality and are both thoughtful and stimulating.” —Ancient Philosophy