Plato – Statesman (Live Reading)

About this event

Over the last few years, we have done a close reading of Plato's Republic and the Laws. Now we turn to the Statesman. This week we will begin reading at 259d (last week we began at 257a, the start of the dialogue). The dramatic action is as follows: we pick up after the Eleatic Stranger has finished the discussion that takes place in the dialogue titled the Sophist (which we read several years ago). The discussion turns to the figure of the Statesman, and while the interlocutor in the Sophist was Theaetetus (who resembled Socrates), a youth named Socrates takes on the role of interlocutor (Socrates himself is present). No particular edition is required, but we can discuss what we want to use during the meeting. Because of this, sharing some editions that are generally available digitally in the comments may be helpful. I'll also try to keep the Greek text handy (probably through a Loeb edition, but anyone can look at Perseus as well). If you want to familiarize yourself with the text in advance, here are some different editions: On Perseus, Fowler (HTML): https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=plat.+stat.+257a Plato's Complete Works: PDF: https://app.box.com/s/4v3r6gh4ys9gdrqc705ane2hxriqfqre