Collected Works in Four Volumes. Volume 2

This second volume contains six dialogues: Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, Theaetetus, Sophist and Parmenides. They examine the soul, love and beauty, the nature of knowledge and the relationship between thought and reality. In Phaedo, the account of Socrates' final conversations frames arguments about the soul; Symposium approaches love through a succession of speeches. Phaedrus connects the soul with questions about speech and writing. Theaetetus tests definitions of knowledge, Sophist considers being and not-being, and Parmenides explores difficulties concerning the Forms, unity and plurality. Together, the dialogues show philosophical inquiry returning to its own assumptions and testing how far an explanation can go.