Customer Reviews:
The Last Days of Socrates.......2007-06-16
In this simply-organized compilation of Socratic Dialogues, I would offer that the way Penguin Classics presents them cannot be outdone. The playfully loquacious dialogues are pure-gold bricks of logic, and should therefore be cherished greatly. This book is easy to understand because there are endnotes on every page. Spanning the entirety of over 200 juicy pages, Harold Tarrant and Hugh Tredennick present The Last Days of Socrates to the reader in an easy to follow pattern of notes. These final works of Plato should not be thought of as poor entertainment, but rather highly intense and compelling Greek discussions. It is very well-done and should be read over and over again.
Although every Socratic dialogue is absolutely riddled with complacent people for Socrates to question, this collection actually reveals the largest variety of listeners. From crazy commoners to cynical and court-goers, a critical criminal and the crowd of conflicting friends, Socrates caught every category and class of character off guard. At first, the evidence that hints at Socrates' trial is a mere conviction and nothing more. He had been free then. He had boldly questioned commoners at the very steps to the courthouse that he would defend himself in later. This penniless philosopher inquired of many people during his spare time.
In this collection, the second and third dialogues are the ones that depict the powerful defense of Socrates using logic to its full extent. In brilliantly defending himself, Socrates caressed, persuaded, and rallied only just under half of the jury. Unfortunately, he had failed to win the jury over completely, but he had come so close. Sleeping in the cell that was later constructed for him, Socrates was aroused by Crito, a man who had been a believer in Socrates. The extent of the discussion is contained in the third dialogue titled Crito. Anyhow, the general public hated Socrates so much that only death would avenge their flaming lust for revenge. The second and third dialogues depict Socrates' infamous apologetics and must be read. That is not all, however.
In Phaedo, Socrates calmly awaited his own death by hemlock, in a full chamber of the courthouse. He first addressed his followers and comrades alike concerning the meaning of life. He wanted to reassure them that there was indeed life after death, and that he would be going to a better place. Before he drank the poison, however, Socrates spurred a discussion of the soul and its immortality, or at least as logic had presented it to him. (Of course he had to argue it.) When two of his followers timidly provided Socrates with their opposing views, he only smiled and destroyed each argument consecutively. This he did because he wanted to share his hopes with his friends and did not want them to doubt his reincarnation. Nobody could fight back tears as he took the poison and perished. Socrates' legend now carries from there on. In Phaedo, the philosopher convinced his pals that his soul had not been dying, but had rather been transcending.
I love how Penguin has organized these significant conversations. Socrates is much easier to comprehend because of this book. Socrates had been last heard saying, "Crito, we ought to offer a cock to Asclepius. (This is because Asclepius had been the god of pleasure.) See to it and don't forget." Buy this book. See to it and do not forget. When I purchased this book, which was in a used condition, it only cost two cents and has not disappointed me. Since it is known that Socrates is always welcome to thinkers, the price feels reduced even further for those who love logic. You will deprive yourself if you miss out on this intellectual classic of the Father of Greek philosophy.
let's not argue.......2005-01-21
First, let me commend this book on it's ability to maintain relevance over the course of hundreds, even thousands of years. It is a necessity to any "rooty" student of philosophy.
Secondly, let me acknowledge that Socrates was a seemingly unhuman grace to the acomplishments of the human race. However, as he encouraged us to face rational facts as opposed to common beliefs, you must face the reality that in fact Socrates had sex with young boys, as was the norm for that era in Greek history. There are no questions. Most of the great minds did, though I am both a devotee to their teachings and wise to the ugliness of those actions.
If Aristotle killed a stranger would that make his work of lesser importance?
Let me stress that dignity in experiences (your 4 years of study) should not extend to close the mind but to expand it. We are reading passionate works of a man who shaped our world.
To argue irrationally on the topic of Socrates is to hit a man who disrespects Gandhi.
W.J. Knapp is quite ignorant!.......2004-12-02
Just like the other person who said that W.J. Knapp's review is, essentially, incredible and ridiculous, I, too, think that he knows nothing of Socrates. I have studied ancient philosophy for the last 4 years, specifically Socrates and Plato!, and this "Baptist Minister" is quite ignorant of Socrates and his ostensible love affairs with young men. There is NO evidence for any claim that says that Socrates slept with young men. He even resisted Alcibiades when Alcibiades wanted to sleep with him (read Alcibiades, by Plato)! He also died for a cause; he did not die for nothing! Besides Jesus, and possibly the apostle Paul, Socrates was the best man who had ever lived--and I am a devout Christian saying this! HE WAS A MARTYR! HE DID NOT BELIEVE WHAT THE GREEKS OF HIS TIME BELIEVED AS REGARDS GOD! In sum, do not pay heed to what W.J. Knapp says; he is obviously ignorant about the TRUTH! And you, W.J. Knapp, call yourself a Baptist! Besides bashing Knapp's comment, I would like to say that this book is great; an excellent read, and it stimulates one's mind, challenging one to consider things anew. It is also a wonderful story about the most influential philosopher who died for what he belived in: the TRUTH! I hope that each one of you finds this book as enjoyable as I do each time I read it! God Bless!
The following is a reply to Eric's recent comment (January 20, 2005)
It seems as if Eric does not know what he is talking about, for his logic is both fallacious and implausible. Just because many male Greeks in that era had sex with young boys, this does not necessarily prove that Socrates did. Not everyone in that era had sex with young boys; now did they, Eric?! His argument would not be right even if, say, 999,999 male Greeks out of 1,000,000 did have sex with young boys. If anyone was the exception, it would be Socrates. Moreover, as a philosophy professor (who is knowledgable specifically in the ancient philosophy period), I have studied this man quite in depth, and his character and daimon would certainly proscribe such immoral conduct. For, even if it was not deemed heinous or immoral in that era, that does not mean that Socrates deemed it moral. Lastly, perhaps you have not read many of the Platonic dialogues, but in one of them Socrates even had a chance to sleep with the finest young boy in Greece (Alcibiades); but he refused! Socrates did not have sex with young boys. There are no questions! Let us hope that this argument has eliminated any difficulties you, or anyone else for that matter, are struggling with. All in all, the book is wonderful, and I recommend it to anyone, even if he thinks Socrates did have sex with young boys!
great book.......2004-08-17
The only "sad case" is for the critic below, who while being an independant baptist minister, is so blinded by his prejudice as to ingore the universal truths in this book. The archetypal death of a martyr is described here in all its glory. Great Book!
The Masterpiece of Plato.......1998-05-07
I wondered that why there isn't any church putting Jacque Louis-David's painting the Death of Socrates on the wall. If you hear the story of Socrates' sarcrifice, you would understand why this old man is worth of the worship from millions. Imagine you are in the situation of Socrates. Assume that you are a patriotic citizen of a country. For all the years of your life, you try to make your fellow citizen smart and do them goods by spending all your time making speeches on the streets, defending justice and teaching the students without any charges. Assume that you have annoyed the ruling class of this country and they prosecute you on the court for corrupting the youths of your country-they could not prove that though. Assume your fellow citizen vote and put you to death on the court for you are too poor to pay a satisfactory fine and reject to proclaiming justice in exchange for your release. Assume that your best friend asks you to escape from jail since it is unjust for you to accept this unreasonable condemnation, and he guarantees that all the financial problems would be taken care of and your friends who help you escape would not be suffered, so that you can live in the countries that you prefer and raise your children by yourselves. Is anybody there would refuse to escape? However, Socrates does. He launches three arugements. 1. We should never injury others on any circumstances. Escape from jail and breaks the laws is certainly an act that would put the Laws of Athens on the blink of destruction. 2. You should respect your country's command as if you respect your parents. Since a person's birth, his country provides the protections, regulates the supply of food and enriches him with education. Thus, a person shouls respect his country like or more than he respects his parents. 3. There is a contract between the government and the people. If a person does not like the Laws of a country, he can choose to leave it. If he chooses to stay, that means he signs the contract with government of not ! breaking the laws. If he does not break the laws, the government can't do anything on him. If he does, the government reserves the rights to punish him or even execute him.
This book comprises the last part of Socrates' life: Euthyphro, the cause of his accusation, The Apology ,his cross-interrogation at the court, Crito, his refusal to escape from jail, and Phaedo, his Sarcrifice. There are the most important chapters in Plato. The weight of Socrates' sarcrifice is like the cruxifiction of Christ; if he does not die, he is not the Messiah. So, if you don't have too much time to read the Complete Works of Plato, this book undoubtedly would be the best choice for you to understand Plato.
Customer Reviews:
Non Fiction.......2007-09-03
Socrates runs afoul of the authorities and others, and expounds upon the situation that he finds himself at the time, and in the process, you see something of the political and legal system at work in the process, and what some of his followers thought about the whole thing.
Really quite readable.
There are better translations.......2007-03-11
This is a descent translation of Plato, but not the best. It is an easy to understand translation, and there is nothing wrong with that. Tredennick and Tarrant (the translators of this book) have given us a nice translation that is definitely readable and, at times, enjoyable. There's a guy called W.H.D. Rouse that has some nice translations of Plato. They feel like literal translations, although I don't know Greek. I'm not sure if he translated "Euthyphro", but I know that he did the other 3 that are collected in this book (Apology, Crito, and Phaedo). Here is a link to the Rouse translation: Great Dialogues of Plato (Signet Classics)
I would suggest the Jowett translation for its elegance and beauty. (You can actually read the Jowett translation online if you want to; it was done in the 19th century, so it is now a public domain text.) Here are some links to the Jowett translation: The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues (Dover Thrift Editions) and Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo (Great Books in Philosophy) and Selected Dialogues of Plato: The Benjamin Jowett Translation (Modern Library Classics).
If I were you I would get this book for the endnotes (it is an awfully cheap book after all). And I would get the Rouse or Jowett translation as well, if for no other reason than to have a second source that you can go to if a particular passage in the Tredennick and Tarrant version confuses you. I have found that this is an invaluable tool to understand translated texts. However, the Tredennick/Tarrant translation uses such simple language that it might not be needed. If you are a philosophy student, or just someone who wants to fully understand and digest the text, I would keep an alternative translation in the holster when reading. (There are, of course, other translations that I haven't mentioned. I am no authority on Plato.)
Here's what is in the book (Tredennick/Tarrant):
- 21 page general introduction.
- 3 or 4 page introduction for "Euthyphro","Apology", and "Crito". There is a 14 page intro. for "Phaedo" (it is the longer and more complicated dialogue).
- 39 pages of endnotes
- 3 page bibliography on works about Socrates--his philosophy, his life, Plato's presentation of him, critical books on Socrates, etc.
- Index of principle names. (It's strange that they decided to do this type of index; it would have been much better if they would have put together a regular index in which the reader could look up certain words like "evil" or "justice" or "truth".
A decent anthology........2004-12-04
This is the kind of text used in those bread & butter Western civ. or survey philosophy courses. The translation is fine, but not particularly critical, literal, interpretive, or anything you can associate with an ideology on how to present philosophy. It's just... the text. Maybe we could call it "pragmatic."
The notes are very nicely done, comfortably introducing the reader to a lot of important background information concerning ancient Greek philosophy and the culture(s) which spawned it. I think this is a fine book for becoming acquainted with Plato, but if you want a deeper understanding, check out Alan Bloom's version of The Republic.
What really to say about the content that other reviewers haven't already mentioned? The four books take us from outside the courthouse all the way through a post mortem wrap-up between the interlocutors. Justice, integrity, immortality of the soul, the afterlife... All of philosophy is just footnotes to this guy, after all.
An excellent work..........2003-02-21
All I have to say is... amazing. Socrates was an incredible philosopher and Plato was an incredible writer... together they make an unbeatable combination.
This is an excellent book for both people who are already familiar with Socrates and for those who would like to become familiar with Socrates.
Socrates sets down principles for life that, in a perfect world, everyone would follow... always questioning your actions and your ideas, trying to get to the root of knowledge and eliminating inconsistencies and contradictions in your logic, dedicating yourself to knowledge and truth rather than pursuing selfish things like money and flesh. This is a book that can help you in many areas of your life and I highly recommend it.
Philosophical Questions That Are Still Relevant Today.......2003-01-24
As Socrates abstained from recording his philosophies, we must thank Plato for having the insight to preserve Socratic thoughts for posterity. As a student of Socrates, it seems that Plato, through his own writings, attempts to preserve the memory of his well respected teacher.
In The Last Days of Socrates, Plato begins with Euthyphro and we see the Socratic method in action. Socrates and Euthyphro discuss the nature of piety, and through a serious of thought provoking questions, Socrates argues for what he feels is the proper relationship between Man and God.
Next, Plato discusses the trial of Socrates by the Athenian aristocracy. Again, we see Socrates using his rhetorical skills in illustrating the hypocrisy and prejudice pervading throughout the Athenian government. Socrates discusses what role a good citizen should play in government. He announces his being a "gadfly" on the hide of the establishment, and we also find Socrates exposing his own intelligence by claiming that he, in fact, knows very little. The Apology is by far my personal favorite section of the book.
After Socrates conviction, we find him discussing the morality of obeying or breaking laws in Crito. He meets with one of his close friends and the two discuss Socrates' options in regard to his death sentence. Here we see Socrates espouse the belief that it is acceptable to break an unjust law, however, one must also accept the consequences for breaking said law in order to preserve the stability of society.
The Last Days of Socrates tackles many complex issues which are as relevant today as they were when first committed to paper in the 4th century B.C. This should be standard reading for any introductory course in political theory, and a must have for anyone interested in philosophy or ethics.
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The Last Days of Socrates
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The Last Days of Socrates
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
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This digital document is an article from Defense Counsel Journal, published by International Association of Defense Counsels on October 1, 2001. The length of the article is 2081 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Attorney liability under ERISA: myth or reality? Lawyers may not be "fiduciaries," but that won't help them escape non-fiduciary exposure, particularly as forecast by a recent decision.
Author: Ronald E. Mallen
Publication:
Defense Counsel Journal (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 2001
Publisher: International Association of Defense Counsels
Volume: 68
Issue: 4
Page: 435(4)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Erisa Fiduciary Answer Book
David R. Levin , and
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Be sure of your fiduciary responsibilities and how to handle them safely with ERISA Fiduciary Answer Book . This expert reference book clearly explains every aspect of ERISA fiduciary duty, providing information, guidance, and advice on prohibited transactions, investments, fiduciary liability, IRS, DOL, and PBGC requirements, and more.
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Erisa Fiduciary Answer Book: 2002 Supplement
David R. Levin , and
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Erisa Fiduciary Compliance: Practical Guide to Participant-directed Investments
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Erisa Fiduciary Law
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Erisa Fiduciary Law 1998 Supplement
Susan Serota
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