Synopses & Reviews
This is an English translation of Plato's dialogue concerning the nature of knowledge. In this dialogue, Socrates and Theaetetus discuss three definitions of knowledge: knowledge as nothing but perception, as true judgment and as true judgment with an account.
Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Platos immediate audience.
Review
Sachss outstanding new translation of Platos Theaetetus is lucid, readable, and faithful to the original. More than that, it is a translation for the thoughtful reader. Through his striking translations of key terms, Sachs compels the reader to think more deeply about Platos intent. He shows that Platos return within the dialogue to the same word or to its cognates is no accident but signals a philosophical trope in Platos thought. The works introduction avoids presenting a stock summary of the topics covered or a rehearsal of the failed arguments. Instead, it makes the case for regarding the Theaetetus as Platos missing work on The Philosopher. Through the variety of attempts, errors, new beginnings, and false turns that the dialogue presents, Sachs argues, Socrates provokes his interlocutors and Platos readers to strive to cross the boundary between mere opinion and the kind of thinking that is philosophy.
-- Roslyn Weiss, Lehigh University
Synopsis
English translation of Plato's dialogue concerning the nature of knowledge. In this dialogue, Socrates and Theaetetus discuss three definitions of knowledge: knowledge as nothing but perception, as true judgment and as true judgment with an account.
Synopsis
Translation close to the original text, providing notes and an introduction to the work designed to give the intelligent reader access to thought and thought processes of one of the seminal works in the Socratic tradition.
About the Author
Joe Sachs taught for thirty years at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. He has translated Aristotle's "Physics," "Metaphysics" and "On the Soul" and, for the Focus Philosophical Library, Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" and "Poetics", and Plato's "Theaetetus" and "Republic."