The Socratic Dialogues

Alcibiades and Other Attributed Dialogues

De: Plato

Narrado por: David Rintoul

The influence of Plato, his Dialogues and his ‘Academy', cast a long shadow. Around 35 Dialogues, almost all featuring Socrates as the principal figure, are generally ascribed to Plato and form one of the most important threads in Western philosophy. These four Dialogues may fall into the ‘Attributed Texts' category, but they are of sufficient interest to warrant study in our time and when set against the principal canon.

The recording opens with Alcibiades I. Socrates' interlocuter is well known as a charismatic young figure of the time, and appears in the Symposium and Protagoras. The subject under discussion is justice and injustice. Socrates questions the over-confident Alcibiades about his understanding of these issues, which is crucial for someone about to play an active role in public life. It is the longest Dialogue of the four.

Hippias is another young man. A Sophist, brimming with the confidence of youth to the extent of being vain and boastful. He appears in two Dialogues on this recording, the Lesser Hippias and the Greater Hippias. The Lesser Hippias is a witty and lively conversation in which Hippias is keen to display his abilities only to be shaken by patient questioning by the astute Socrates. The Greater Hippias, a discussion about beauty, contains some interesting elements, while also showing how the form became diluted in the hands of lesser followers of Plato.

The final Dialogue, Menexenus is a special case. It was an important form in Athenian society and this is a rare surviving example. It has been included here in a new recording so it can be listened to in the context of ‘Attributed Dialogues', rather than a fully accepted work by Plato. The background to each Dialogue is set by Benjamin Jowett. David Rintoul continues his persuasive characterisation of the masterful Socrates.

Public Domain (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

Clearly Not Plato

As a devoted fan of the Dialogues, I could quickly hear why academics question the authenticity of these particular pieces. They don’t fit the form, and seem cheap replicas of the traditional Dialogues. David Rintoul and cast are masterful, the translation great, the content disappointing.

Ukemi is fantastic, and I recommend readers to find their other Dialogues works, and experience Rintoul as Socrates. They will make anyone a philosopher.

Great reading, but I where are the remaining dialogues?

Great performance! I was disappointed that 3/4 of the dialogues on the recording can already be found on other Ukemi recordings. I would like to see the rest of Plato's writings recorded for the next Ukemi release:

Alcibiades II (minor)
Epinomis
Lovers (erastai)
Euthyphro
Hipparchus
Letters
Theages

Thank you!

Great to have Alcibiades, would love more…

Of course this is an outstanding performance, like all Ukemi recordings, but I didn’t expect to get mostly dialogues which had already been released on other Ukemi recordings. I was expecting that it would be all dialogues which hadn’t already been done.

So, to make up for this, I should like for Ukemi to release another production that has all the dialogues they’ve yet to do…

Second Alcibiades
Erastai (Rival Lovers)
Theages
Cleitophon
Hipparchus
Minos
Epinomis

They’ve probably already got just such a project in the works. 😃

Thank you, Ukemi and David Rintoul, for all of your amazing productions. Every night when I’m putting my four-year-old son to sleep, I ask him what audiobook he’d like to listen to, and he always yells, “Socrates! Socrates!”

Can’t wait to hear the rest of the dialogues…
😉