Collected Works in Four Volumes. Volume 3

The third volume brings together Philebus, Republic, Timaeus and Critias. Philebus compares pleasure and understanding as elements of a good life. Republic develops the question of justice through an examination of the city, the soul, education, knowledge and the responsibilities of rulers. It also contains the celebrated image of the cave. Timaeus turns to the origin and structure of the cosmos, while the unfinished Critias continues the account of ancient Athens and Atlantis. These works reveal connections between Plato's ethics, political thought and cosmology. Their shared concern is order: in a person's life, in a community and in the world.