ABSTRACT
There is great controversy about the interpretation of Plato’s political philosophy and numerous unresolved issues. In large part this is because he wrote dialogues rather than treatises, and it is not clear how closely we can identify the views of the main speakers-generally Socrates-as Plato’s own. This problem is compounded by disagreements about the dating of different dialogues, the authenticity of others, and the reliability of certain historical evidence, including the Seventh Epistle. An additional factor is the radicalism of Plato’s proposals and disagreements about his motives in proposing them. While different interpretations cannot be explored in this essay, the reader should be aware that they abound in the voluminous literature. (For discussion of central problems of interpretation, with references, see Klosko 2006a, ch. 2.)
The series of dialogues generally believed to be Plato’s earliest vividly depict the character and teaching of Socrates. There are irresolvable problems in establishing the
relationship between the Socrates of these works and the historical Socrates-as Plato understood him-and Plato’s own philosophical views. While it is possible that, like a number of other ancient authors, Plato was deeply concerned with depicting the Socrates he knew, it is also possible that he used Socrates as a mouthpiece for his own ideas (at the times he wrote different works). The solution to this “Socratic problem” may well lie somewhere between these poles (see Ross 1933; Guthrie 1962-81: Vol. III; Vlastos 1991: ch. 2). In Plato’s later works, the influence of Socrates clearly decreases. In the dialogues that are generally viewed as Plato’s last, Socrates assumes only a background role, while he is absent entirely from the Laws, generally viewed as Plato’s last work, left unfinished at his death.
