Mantinomia
← Authors
Ancient marble portrait of Plato, with a broad brow and curled beard.

Plato

c. 428–347 BC

Athenian philosopher

Plato lived in ancient Athens, where he founded the Academy, a school devoted to philosophical inquiry. His life dates are approximate. Socrates, whose questioning made a lasting impression on him, appears throughout his writing. These conversations unfold among friends, rivals, and teachers, giving philosophical disagreement a recognizably human setting.

Questions about justice and the good life lead into others about knowledge, love, education, and the soul. Many dialogues distinguish changing things from enduring forms, such as beauty or goodness itself. Yet they also test their own proposals. Their puzzles and unfinished arguments ask readers to weigh the reasoning, rather than simply collect conclusions.

How to read Plato

Apology offers a direct introduction to Socrates’ trial and his commitment to questioning. Try Euthyphro and Crito next. Notice who is speaking, what each person assumes, and where an argument leaves them: a dialogue’s unfinished answer can be part of its purpose.

The groups below suggest a route through the surviving collected writings, including works attributed to Plato. This is an editorial reading path, not a chronology. Plato usually writes through characters, and neither their statements nor the order of the dialogues can simply be treated as his own autobiography.

Socrates in conversation

After the trial sequence, explore shorter discussions before Protagoras and Gorgias. Hippias Major belongs here thematically; although its authorship has been challenged, most contemporary scholars accept it as Plato’s.

  1. Apology
  2. Euthyphro
  3. Crito
  4. Laches
  5. Charmides
  6. Lysis
  7. Ion
  8. Hippias Minor
  9. Hippias Major
  10. Protagoras
  11. Gorgias
  12. Menexenus
  13. Euthydemus

Learning and language

Meno makes a useful next step into inquiry and learning. Cratylus asks how names relate to things; keep track of the competing proposals rather than expecting a tidy theory.

  1. Meno
  2. Cratylus

Soul, love, and justice

Move from Phaedo and Symposium to Republic, then Phaedrus. Their different settings matter: a prison conversation, banquet speeches, a sustained political inquiry, and a discussion of love and persuasion.

  1. Phaedo
  2. Symposium
  3. Republic
  4. Phaedrus

Knowledge and being

Follow Theaetetus with Sophist and Statesman, which continue its dramatic sequence. Return to Parmenides when ready for a demanding challenge to forms and an extended exercise in argument.

  1. Theaetetus
  2. Sophist
  3. Statesman
  4. Parmenides

Pleasure, nature, and law

Philebus returns to the good life. Read Timaeus with its unfinished continuation, Critias; approach Laws in smaller stretches, watching how institutions and education fit together.

  1. Philebus
  2. Timaeus
  3. Critias
  4. Laws

Debated attributions

These dialogues and the thirteen Letters belong to the historical collection, but their authorship is contested in different ways. Treat Letter VII as disputed evidence, rather than an unquestioned account by Plato.

  1. Alcibiades I
  2. Clitophon
  3. Theages
  4. Hipparchus
  5. Minos
  6. Rival Lovers
  7. Alcibiades II
  8. Epinomis
  9. Letters I–XIII

Other collected writings

These pieces are generally considered non-Platonic. They remain part of the catalogue because they were transmitted under his name; Definitions is a compilation rather than a conversation.

  1. Axiochus
  2. Demodocus
  3. Eryxias
  4. Halcyon
  5. On Justice
  6. On Virtue
  7. Sisyphus
  8. Definitions

Poems attributed to Plato

The Epigrams add a different literary form. Most are probably not Plato’s, though some have been defended as genuine; attribution needs to be considered poem by poem.

  1. Epigrams

For a shorter first journey, try Apology, Euthyphro, Crito, Meno, Symposium, and Republic.

Reading guide sources
  1. Paul Woodruff, “Plato’s Shorter Ethical Works,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 18 December 2022, Sections 1–3 and 11–20.
  2. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 24 April 2026, Sections 1–3, 5, 8 and 11.
  3. Paul Woodruff, “Plato’s Shorter Ethical Works,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 18 December 2022, Sections 1–3 and 11–20. Thomas Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, “Plato,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d., Sections 3b and 4a–c.
  4. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 24 April 2026, Sections 1–3, 5, 8 and 11.
  5. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 24 April 2026, Sections 1–3, 5, 8 and 11.
  6. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 24 April 2026, Sections 1–3, 5, 8 and 11. Sophie-Grace Chappell and Francesco Verde, “Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 7 February 2025, Sections 1–3.
  7. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 24 April 2026, Sections 1–3, 5, 8 and 11. Donald Zeyl and Barbara Sattler, “Plato’s Timaeus,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 13 May 2022, Introduction and sections 1–2.
  8. Thomas Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, “Plato,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d., Sections 3b and 4a–c. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 24 April 2026, Sections 1–3, 5, 8 and 11.
  9. Thomas Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, “Plato,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d., Sections 3b and 4a–c.
  10. Thomas Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, “Plato,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d., Sections 3b and 4a–c.
  11. Paul Woodruff, “Plato’s Shorter Ethical Works,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 18 December 2022, Sections 1–3 and 11–20. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 archive, Revised 24 April 2026, Sections 1–3, 5, 8 and 11.

Works in the library

45 available
Sources & portrait
  1. Thomas Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, “Plato,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, undated; accessed October 1, 2026, secs. 1a–1c and 2d. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 edition, revised April 24, 2026, secs. 3–4.
  2. Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2026 edition, revised April 24, 2026, secs. 1–3 and 10–12.

Portrait: Roman marble portrait after Silanion (attributed), 2nd century CE. Louvre Ma 3654. Photograph: Marie-Lan Nguyen, 2007. Image source. Public domain; photograph dedicated to the public domain by its creator. Displayed in monochrome with a circular crop.