Selected Works of Plato in Outline
Contents
Reading Guide
This is a study guide to help the student in a first reading of the selected dialogues from the Platonic corpus. As you read Jowett's translation (link below), use the the outlines (including notes) provided to navigate and study the texts.
Jowett's Translation
The dialogues of Plato were written and published in ancient Greek during the early half of the fourth century BC. An authoritative translation into English was completed by Benjamin Jowett in the late nineteenth century. This translation is convenient, because it is in the public domain -- and therefore free of charge, and free to be used in any way you may see fit. Yet it is a work of the highest academic quality. The translation is faithful to the original Greek, while at the same time eloquent and expressive in the English tongue.
Online Library of Liberty Editions
The Online Library of Liberty has electronic editions of Jowett's five volume work that are of exceptional quality.
The Dialogues of Plato (Jowett Translation)
Links to each of the volumes are here:
Dialogues of Plato, Volume 1, which includes the Phaedrus, and the Symposium
Dialogues of Plato, Volume 2, which includes the Apology, and the Phaedo
Facsimile PDFs Primary
The primary source documents for the Online Library of Liberty editions are the "Facsimile PDF" files listed under "Downloads." I recommend that you familiarize yourself with those facsimiles before using any other versions provided. Some of the formatting of the other layouts can be confusing, because those are still works in progress (as of January 2025).
Stephanus Pagination
Throughout the outlines listed below, reference is made to the Stephanus pages included in Jowett's translation. The page numbers refer to the pages of a complete Greek edition of Plato's works published in 1578 by a publisher named Staphanus. For more details, see Suzanne Bernard's explanation of "Stephanus References."
Note that reference to the Stephanus pages allows the student to use any translation that includes this scholoarly convention.
Narrative Outlines
The outlines attempt to give narrative outlines of the dialogues. Over rationalization has been avoided — so that a more linear description of the storyline is provided, rather than a logical hierarchy of topics discussed. The outlines provide section headings to help the student see major breaks in each discussion. At the top of each outline there is a table of contents. Each of these listings provide a map for the dialogue at hand. The heading titles attempt to draw attention to the poetic flare of Jowett's translations.
Jowett's Summary Headings
Jowett provides summary headings throughout his translations that are also not overly rationalized, but that focus more on the logic of the argumentation in each dialogue. These are very helpful.
Selected Works
Fowler Translations
Improved Resources
In look at things more closely this semester (Spring 2025), I have found some improved resources. The Scaife Viewer project of the Perseus Digital Library of Tufts University has recently improved the accessibility, and readability of their Plato texts. They have Harold North Fowler's Translations of Plato nicely formatted in electronic form (with textual critical precision). Like Jowett's translations, Fowler's translations are in the public domain.
Using an artificial intelligence large language model, I have been able to efficiently stitch together my outlines of the Apology and the Phaedo so that my outline titles are integrated into the Fowler translations. I think these will be better for students. I am currently working on formatting the Symposium similarly.
Editing and Refinement
I have edited the text from the Persues Digital Library to include section headings. Those section headings appear in the table of contents at the top of each webpage. In this way, the table of contents provides my outline of the work.
I also will be editing and refining Fowler's translation on a periodic basis here on this website. The content is fluid. I will incorporate changes as I see fit to generally assist in teaching, and perhaps to bring out particular nuances of the original Greek that I want to emphasize.
Notes found in the text may be from the Fowler edition published by the Perseus Digital Library, or from me. I will document means of distinguishing between the two elsewhere at some point.
The section headings I've included in the translations below were originally (before subsequent refinement) from an outline in a series described under Selected Works of Plato in Outline where Benjamin Jowett's translations were used as the base texts. The section headings originally reflected the language of Jowett's translation.
The pilcrow (¶) at the end of each paragraph indicates where the Perseus Digital Library formatted the paragraph breaks in the Fowler translation. I will verify as I go that these match with the paragraph breaks in the original Greek, and make revisions as necessary.
I am also refining the positions of the Stephanus references to match the Greek original (as published by the Perseus Digial Library in parallel with the Fowler translation).