How should I start with Plato? Is this a good order? http:/

>>9818136
sure it's fine, stop wasting time and just read him.

>if you find some place where there is a dumb way of reading the text and a smart one, assume Plato had the smart one in mind, even if Aristotle tried to make us believe he had the dumb one, especially if that's the case (I think Aristotle could not understand most of what Plato taught him, but thought he had, and that most of what is good in Aristotle is Plato's, often ill digested; but if you haven't heard of Aristotle yet, you are lucky and enjoy your luck as it last, and forget about Aristotle; only be aware that even if you don't know it, Aristotle had a great influence on our way of understanding the world, and contributed to instilling in our mind the wrong notions about Plato, this picture of Plato as an idealist dreaming in a world of "ideas" or "forms" unconnected with the real world).

Aristotle BTFO

You don't start Plato by reading Plato, since you're a beginner you should read first beginners books, something like Plato: A Short Introduction or Plato's Cambridge Companion should be good starts.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Why shouldn't I just read Plato and interpret his words myself?" Because you're intellectually young, if you try to tackle Plato or even Aristotle by yourself you will fall into the trap of interpreting his words in the wrong way. Remember, there're people who spends their whole academic life trying to interpret and understand those philosophers, you should first trust in those people and after you become intellectually mature you should read Plato's and Aristotles' works and come with your own interpretations.

>>9818177
Who wrote it? Doesn't he realize that Plato's texts were a part of a secret doctrine that is obscure to us, and which was studied extensively and directly by Aristotle himself? Hell, if we know the nature of this doctrine is mainly thanks to Aristotle, who wrote down those dogmas that Plato shared only by voice, which were in fact the key aspect of his philosophy, and which he thought could be reached only dialectically: Aristotle reports that Plato once tried to explain to Athenians said fundations (which involved theological statements reached through advanced geometry), and apparently the general reaction was pity.
Also keep in mind that Plato's dialogues were only a tool to help his students and himself remember prior teachings that were done through direct conversation and mathematical and geometrical studies.

tl;dr: whoever wrote that is an arrogant fuck who is objectively wrong: there is no way he could know even half of what Aristotle literally learned from Plato himself (of which most informations were secret, and lost to us).

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>>9818177
What is the correct interpretation of Plato, then?

>>9818570
Which one of his works?

>>9818136
Doesn't matter. But when you read The Republic just make sure you read the Howard Bloom translation.

Literally all others are sub par. I'm not an Ancient Greek expert but anyone who knows their stuff will concur. It's easy to get a hold of, too.

>>9818629
The theory of the forms in general. The other anon said that seeing forms as pure idealism is a mistake, so I want to know what other interpretations of forms are

>>9818199
Cambridge companion to Plato is an absolutely horrible choice for prep reading. Some of the essays are quite advanced, many deal with fine points in specific dialogues, and ALL of them assume your familiarity with the bulk of the corpus.

It should be read last, or close to it.

>>9818570
Hegel's, look up his lectures.

>>9819056

Read Being and Logos by John Sallis

>>9818570
No one really knows it, the real meaning of those texts were kept hidden by Plato himself.

Start with the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, then the rest in pretty much any order you want. It honestly doesn't really matter but at least with this order you get a coherent narrative of the trial as a bonus.