Pros/Cons

It's the academic standard

>>9873144
Plato wasn't actually that great. You can find much better.

>>9873144
It's pretty much the go to for Plato. The pages are really thin but it had to fit in one volume.

>>9873186
Elaborate.

>>9873144
Jump in, anon. Plato's a badass.

>>9873572
I have read him thoroughly, but it was so long ago. Then I picked up "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" and there was some discussion about the forms of the good, and uniting principles, and I couldn't tell if he was right or not, and then I realized how much I'd forgotten after years of sitting in a law office, slowly rotting and dying off.

This is an agent of my rebirth.

>>9873144
It's solid. I don't think any of the translations (excepting the Diskin Clay) are exceptional or even the best, but they're serviceable and certainly readable.

>>9873186
Thanks for the recommendations, you stupid fuck.

>>9873587
Go outside, stare into the sun and scream "I live yet again!"

>>9873621
I eagerly await this moment.

I own this edition on my kobo and it's great. I enjoyed reading the republic- I love how Socrates calmy and humbly fucks everyone up, and you know shit's going down as soon as he mentions physicians or pilots. It's entertaining philosophical shit-talking even if the writing style makes it sound like cleverbot vs siri

>>9873144
Translation shouldn't be a problem. Plato was a philosopher, not a stylist.

>>9873754
Pfft, Plato was a fantastic writer with immense style.

>>9873754
is this a fucking joke

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>>9873754

>>9873754
The American experiment has failed.

There's a free PDF of it online. It's very findable.

My only problem is that it's difficult to carry a book that large around with me. It's just kinda stuck at home.

>>9873852
>>9873860
>>9873870
>>9873799
How could you possibly know he's a stylist if you don't read ancient greek?

I highly doubt any of you actually do.

>>9873754
>only style is lost in a bad translation


pls

>>9873990
Fair point. A good example is holy scripture. I can't fucking stand Midwestern baptists and they're literal interpretations of the KJV and later versions.

>>9873995
>they're
I fucked up. Good thing this is anonymous board.

>>9873590

There are like fifty different texts and a massive level of scholarship went into the book. They had like thirty-forty different translators. My point being that your assertion that not a single one of these translations is the best available one becomes highly dubious just by scale and probability alone.

>>9873144
Mine arrives Tuesday. I currently own a pdf copy which is good - it's why I decided to get the hard copy.

>>9873186
t. brainlet

>>9874047
Oh. Well then let me walk my claim back a bit; for the contested and pseudepigraphal dialogues (and probably all of the epistles and poems and definitions), some of these are probably the best *available*.

For Republic, Laws, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman, etc. etc., basically any dialogue longer than five pages, nah, these certainly aren't the best.

>>9873144
An excellent edition

Pros
>great scholarly translations
>excellent binding

Cons
>very thing paper. Very delicate
>dust-jacket is terrible quality. Barely fits.

If you're a Plato enthusiast, it's a must have. But I'd also recommend getting other translations as well where-ever you find them. I wish to get Jowett edition one day.

>>9876185
thin*

>>9876185
Explain to me how you can have an all-in-one volume of Plato without having to use bible paper?

why is it so expensive, lads... ;_;

>>9876185
are there notes and stuff like that ?

>>9877933
You can't, but the paper is fine. I annotated it cover to cover with a fountain pen and never had any ink bleed through or any pages rip.

>>9877947
Very very few. If you want critical editions of dialogues you'll have to buy them separately. Like the Barnes 2 vol complete Aristotle, there just isn't room for notes if the book is going to stay even vaguely the same size. Especially given the subject matter, there are thousands of comments to be made throughout the dialogues, and they have been, but you won't find them in any single volume.

>>9878275
thanks for the reply
so what would you suggest to someone who has just finished presocratics? should I get this book or no?

>>9878348
also, the notes are not a big issue i guess
i can just read a dialogue and then watch a lecture on it online or something

>>9873969
Weak b8, m8

>>9873144
>>9877942
Jowett's translations are fine IMO. Cheaper too.

do i have to read his works in the order they are listed in this book or can i jump around?

>>9878511
You can jump around.

>>9878511
Yes. His works are organized in chronological order.

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>>9878348
>>9878370
Yeah I would absolutely recommend getting this edition. You can supplement it with annotated editions (Hackett has a few, and of course there are standalone editions of Republic with intro essays/commentaries), but IMO you'll be fine with more general commentaries later.

Unlike Aristotle, who demands basically line-by-line commentary if you're going to understand him, Plato's writings are more literary and evolve around (in most cases) just one or two main themes. There's a lot going on under the surface, but it isn't 100% necessary, especially not for a first time reader, to follow every detail.

If you want a fairly comprehensive companion to have at your side, check out AE Taylor's "Plato: the man and his work" which is the only book-length treatment I know which extensively comments on every single dialogue. For a MUCH shorter companion, check out "the bloomsbury companion to plato," which is much more modern and broad, but whose dialogue commentaries are very brief (1-3 pages each). The Bloomsbury is a more helpful piece of scholarship overall; Taylor's book will be more helpful to have by your side dialogue by dialogue.

Maybe add a few more commentaries afterwards if you're feeling up to it (e.g., relevant sections in Copleston's history of philosophy; Cambridge companions to Plato/Plato's Republic). But you can do that at the end.

>>9878511
Yeah there's no universally established chronology for every one of his works, so although there's some overall thematic development which (we think) we can trace, you won't miss much as a first time reader if you hop around. Pic related is Copleston's grouping.

>>9878528
lol no

>>9878543
thanks man, I appreciate how thorough you are

I was wonder whether it would be better to get standalone editions of each dialogue or the complete works becasuse i already have some oxford world classics ones

i guess i'll check out the complete works as soon as i can, and those companions

>>9878416
I'm being serious. If Plato reads as if he had a particular style, it wasn't deliberate. Ancient greek doesn't have enough room in its vernacular for style to flourish. People look up to Plato and discern a certain "style," but he wasn't a "stylist" the way we'd assign, say, William Gass or Faulkner.

If you read ancient greek, well, then debunk me, and I'll admit my ignorance.

>>9878691
I do read ancient Greek. He does indeed have a unique style. I suppose the next question you will ask me is to give you an example and quite frankly I'm not sure how to do that.