Abstract
THIS is a delightful and much-needed book ; may it be read as widely as it deserves. There is no doubt that Plato's dialogues are still, after twenty-four centuries, the best introduction to philosophy ; but they themselves need to be introduced to the modern reader, who otherwise may come away with the wrong impression or none at all. Not only neophytes and the unlearned require help. Two recent books by writers of considerable academic standing are full of gross errors about Plato. One of the leading philosophers of the day has just published misunderstandings which an hour's reading of M. Koyré's book would have dispelled. Indeed one sentence would have gone a long way-“Though Socrates often has his fun at the expense of his interlocutors, Plato never mocks his readers”. But Plato does expect his readers to play their part in the intellectual drama he unfolds. M. Koyré's concern is to prepare the modern reader to play it.
Discovering Plato
By Alexandre Koyré. Translated by Leonora Cohen Rosenfield. Pp. xi + 119. (New York: Columbia University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1945.) 10s. net.
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RITCHIE, A. Discovering Plato. Nature 157, 208 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157208b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157208b0