Small Collection of Works. Plato: Phaedo. Symposium. Phaedrus. Republic

Plato is a great ancient Greek philosopher whose ideas had a tremendous impact on the formation of the human spirit and the culture of human thought in the subsequent centuries. It is from him, a disciple of Socrates and a... teacher of Aristotle, that the formation of strict scientific thinking begins. This edition offers the reader selected dialogues: "Phaedo," "Symposium," "Phaedrus," and "Republic." The first three dialogues address several major themes: the nature of philosophical knowledge, the ethical doctrine in relation to the proofs of the immortality of the soul, and love as a force that directs the individual towards knowledge and makes them godlike. In the famous "Republic," the philosopher defines the concept of justice and examines six forms of government — monarchy, aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny — and provides a description of the ideal state governed by philosophers, "since only the wise can take care of the proper way of life for all citizens."