The Hackett Signature Editions Collection Featuring Premium Hardcovers of Hackett Classics - Learn More Here.
Plato's Seventh Letter
Plato’s Seventh Letter is one of the most important and controversial documents of ancient philosophy, particularly in terms of its epistemology and social and political context. James Redfield’s study of the letter includes a beautiful new translation of the text, an incisive Introduction, and a full commentary along with relevant chapters of Plutarch’s Life of Dion.
“For a long time, the Seventh Letter has cried out for an interpreter to fully appraise its importance and richness of meaning. It has found that commentator in James M. Redfield. This elegant, insight-filled volume—augmented by crucial chapters of Plutarch’s Life of Dion, in which the scale of Plato’s Syracusan debacle becomes inescapably clear—will help readers see Plato’s life, and read his dialogues, in a completely new light.”
—James Romm, James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics, Bard College
SKU
Plato's Seventh Letter group
Plato’s Seventh Letter is one of the most important and controversial documents of ancient philosophy, particularly in terms of its epistemology and social and political context. James Redfield’s study of the letter includes a beautiful new translation of the text, an incisive Introduction, and a full commentary along with relevant chapters of Plutarch’s Life of Dion.
Reviews:
"The Seventh Letter attributed to Plato is a veritable treasure chest of riches, but in recent decades it has been rejected or, more commonly, simply ignored by many of Plato’s readers. Fortunately, this new translation and commentary by James M. Redfield makes this neglected Platonic text accessible to everyone from novices to advanced scholars by presenting the Letter in a slim, affordable standalone book in the Hackett Publishing series. The book is a concise and elegant introduction that has the potential to bring the Letter definitively into the contemporary understanding of Plato.
"By having the Letter in its own volume, teachers at all levels are finally able to situate the Letter within a semester’s study of Platonic texts rooted in standalone hard-copy editions. Those familiar with Plato but not the Letter will find this to be the superlative point of entry into the text’s many provocations. The book will also be indispensable for all scholars of the Letter, who will particularly welcome Redfield’s meticulously researched commentary."
—Colin C. Smith, Creighton University, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review
“For a long time, the Seventh Letter has cried out for an interpreter to fully appraise its importance and richness of meaning. It has found that commentator in James M. Redfield. This elegant, insight-filled volume—augmented by crucial chapters of Plutarch’s Life of Dion, in which the scale of Plato’s Syracusan debacle becomes inescapably clear—will help readers see Plato’s life, and read his dialogues, in a completely new light.”
—James Romm, James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics, Bard College
About the Author:
James M. Redfield is emeritus Edward Olson Distinguished Service Professor of Classics and a member of The Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
