Abstract

These readings of the early dialogues by a noted German Plato scholar emphasize literary techniques, especially structure, as functions of and vehicles for philosophic themes. The author sees the early dialogues as dominated by two interlocking strategies: an exploration of the full consequences of Socratic "ignorance" and the initiation of an intellectual and moral movement toward political arete. Convinced of the unity of Platonic thought, the author constantly points out relationships of structure, purpose and technique both among the dialogues under consideration and with the later dialogues. He interprets the middle dialogues, especially the Symposium and the Republic, as culminations of these early dialogues. These readings reveal a tendency toward rigidity of perspective and approach, and the attempt to show a unity in Plato's thought sometimes reduces it to ideological clichés. The concrete dramatic context of the dialogues is not exploited in the interpretations.—T. R. H.