Abstract

Platonic Writings/platonic Readings is a collection of original essays and exchanges devoted to an aspect of Platonic philosophy that has received little attention in the secondary literature: Plato's exclusive reliance on the dialogue as the preferred format for written philosophy. Charles Griswold, the editor of the collection, has solicited essays that "explore two questions about Plato's dialogues: first, 'why did Plato write dialogues?' and second, 'how ought we to read Plato's dialogues?'". As Griswold explains, the assembled authors believe that Plato's reliance on dialogues is neither arbitrary nor purely rhetorical: "The presupposition of this book is that serious consideration of the twin problems of interpretation and of Plato's reasons for writing dialogues is essential to a successful understanding of his work".