Plato's Lysis : introduction, revised text and commentary

Thesis

No Platonic dialogue is without its hard core of philosophical argument; and this in the "Lysis" is the second part of the dialogue, from 212a to the end. But the "Lysis" opens with an unusually elaborate and particularly charming dramatic introduction. This is worth consideration for its own sake.

Care must be taken when we try to assess the importance of the dramatic introductions to Plato's dialogues. Plato sometimes virtually dispenses with any introduction (and not only in later works; neither the "Gorgias" nor the "Meno" make much concession to scene-setting); and even where there is a dramatic setting of some complexity, the strictly philosophical arguments of the dialogue remain theoretical and self-contained, and draw nothing of importance from the envisaged circumstances of their utterance. What then was Plato trying to add in the dialogues where he provided dramatic introductions? The "Lysis" poses this question very sharply, since its introductory sections approach almost half the total length of the work (nine pages, 203 to 211, out of a total of twenty one)

[Continued in thesis ...]

Authors: Robinson, DB

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-kq4vk7ord
• Type of award: MLitt
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Plato; Lysis; manuscripts; commentary; Greek manuscripts
• Subjects: Manuscripts, Greek; Plato Lysis