Plato's Phaedrus

By: Plato

Narrated by: Ray Childs

Length: 2 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Plato's dialogues frequently treat several topics and show their connections to each other. Phaedrus is a model of that skill because of its seamless progression from examples of speeches about the nature of love to mythical visions of human nature and destiny to the essence of beauty and, finally, to a penetrating discussion of speaking and writing. It ends with an examination of the love of wisdom as a dialectical activity in the human mind.

Phaedrus lures Socrates outside the walls of Athens, where he seldom goes, by promising to share a new work by his friend and mentor, Lysias, a famous writer of speeches. This dialogue provides a powerful example of the dialectical writing that Plato uses to manifest ideas that are essential to human existence and to living a good life. Phaedrus shows how oral and written forms of language relate to each other and to philosophy. It simultaneously embodies the entire process in some of the greatest poetry ever written.

© Agora Publications

Public Domain (P)2015 Agora, New Internet Technologies

six pages (Hackett Complete Works edition) missing

I'm re-listening to this, this time together with the dialogue in print, one in the Hackett Complete Works of Plato. The first time I listened to this I loved it! Performance of the two narrators (Socrates, Phaedrus) is amazing. Then, with the dialogue in print in front of me, I discover that almost six pages are missing (in the Stephanus pagination, 259c -- 266e). This happens in between chapters 35-36 in the audiobook. From what I hear in the audio, it seems those pages were recorded and them somehow excised. How come?! At any rate, I think the publisher should let this be known in the product description. I wouldn't have bought this if I knew it was abridged.

Plato's probably mots poetical dialogue.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Super dialogue with an unforgettable vision of the soul.

What other book might you compare Plato's Phaedrus to and why?

The other two dialogues dedicated to love.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I (mostly) enjoyed Ray Charles-he brings a wry humor/irony to the role. The one who payed Phaedrus was not credible.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Socrates' second speech.

The source

One cannot be truly educated in the west without being intimate with Phaedrus. This book contains the proof of the source.