⋙ Read Understanding Plato The Smart Student Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and The Republic Smart Student Guides to Philosophical Classics Book 1 edition by Laurence D Houlgate Politics Social Sciences eBooks

Understanding Plato The Smart Student Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and The Republic Smart Student Guides to Philosophical Classics Book 1 edition by Laurence D Houlgate Politics Social Sciences eBooks

Download As PDF : Understanding Plato The Smart Student Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and The Republic Smart Student Guides to Philosophical Classics Book 1 edition by Laurence D Houlgate Politics Social Sciences eBooks

Understanding Plato The Smart Student Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and The Republic Smart Student Guides to Philosophical Classics Book 1 edition by Laurence D Houlgate Politics Social Sciences eBooks

First, it is refreshing to see an introductory philosophy text that is in no way "dumbed-down" to meet the supposed low comprehension and attention span of today's students. Professor Houlgate lays out arguments by premise and conclusion, calls attention to their structure and purpose, and challenges students to think about what they've read by posing concrete questions that require them to read the relevant text carefully. There's no room for them to spin airy speculations.

Professor Houlgate does a good job of easily and usefully introducing broader philosophical concepts, such as the difference between induction and deduction, defining concepts by genus and species, hypothesis testing, and the analytic-synthetic distinction, in ways that illuminate what is going on in the classic text and put it into a larger context. This is in keeping with his stated goal of going beyond just teaching students to grasp the arguments in classic texts; he wants to lead them to understand the nature of the philosophic enterprise more generally.

The book has some typos: "... the only the dialogue..." in 2.1, for example. Some glitches affect sense: at 2.2, "... it's wrong to be concerned about the dead man since he was murdered," should have been "... since he was a murderer," perhaps? Some of these typos may be due to an overbearing spell-check that turned "reductio ad absurdum" into "reduction ad absurdum" at 3.3.3. (His footnote spells it correctly.)

As a matter of style, justifying both margins creates some sentences with distracting white spaces.

If I were still teaching, I'd consider adopting this book as a supplemental text, though I'd hope for a corrected edition.

A. C. W. Bethel (Ph.D)
Professor (Emeritus)
Cal Poly Philosophy Department


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Understanding Plato The Smart Student Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and The Republic Smart Student Guides to Philosophical Classics Book 1 edition by Laurence D Houlgate Politics Social Sciences eBooks Reviews

Waste of money and time
This book does a great job in helping the reader understand Plato. Upgrade you knowledge of philosophy.

The author makes understanding Plato easy.
It opened my mind to critical thinking. An enrichment of my insights regarding human nature.
I highly recommend this excellent introduction to Plato's dialogues. The writing is crystal clear and accessible, with a rich, analytical treatment of Plato's historical context, issues of concern, dialectic method and complex lines of reasoning. This student guide is certain to help students understand Plato's views and arguments. Beyond that, it provides a deeper understanding of the purpose, methods and value of philosophical inquiry in the larger sense. What I thoroughly enjoyed about reading Prof. Houlgate's book was the undercurrent of his deep respect for and love of reason itself; that may be its best lesson in a world that is sorely in need of careful, reflective reasoning about what to believe and do.
In order to know ourselves, others and how we create and relate to society we need to understand the context of
the history of thought and the evolution of the human perspective. Plato is one of those imperative cornerstones of thought that Dr. Houlgate conceptualizes in a clear logical framework that is as enjoyable as it is enriching to read and understand. I highly recommend this read for all those who are interested in understanding Plato and I look forward to more conceptual gifts from Dr. Houlgate.
...to a very large literature.

Prof. Houlgate understands that it is impossible to understand the Western philosophical tradition without having at least a basic understanding of Plato. It is written clearly and responsibly; I would recommend it for anyone seeking a better understanding of the Western philosophical tradition. It would also be useful for any introductory course in Philosophy- and I have taught my share of these. Indeed I plan to recommend it to my upper division Ancient Philosophy students next year.
Wish I had this book when I took my Intro Philosophy those many decades ago. In a lucid style, Houlgate gives you running commentary that provide some insights, but more importantly, pathways to insights you can develop yourself. The many questions at the end of each chapter provide challenges, and if done either by yourself, with a small study group, or by the instructor as class exercises, you find ways to come to your own understanding. Also, many of the questions are fodder for possible term papers or projects. You will not spend a more useful $2.99 this year, even if, like me, you read this book to reach back and pull out understandings from many years ago. As a recently retired university professor, I can tell you how valuable it is to have a resource like this for our beginning students.
First, it is refreshing to see an introductory philosophy text that is in no way "dumbed-down" to meet the supposed low comprehension and attention span of today's students. Professor Houlgate lays out arguments by premise and conclusion, calls attention to their structure and purpose, and challenges students to think about what they've read by posing concrete questions that require them to read the relevant text carefully. There's no room for them to spin airy speculations.

Professor Houlgate does a good job of easily and usefully introducing broader philosophical concepts, such as the difference between induction and deduction, defining concepts by genus and species, hypothesis testing, and the analytic-synthetic distinction, in ways that illuminate what is going on in the classic text and put it into a larger context. This is in keeping with his stated goal of going beyond just teaching students to grasp the arguments in classic texts; he wants to lead them to understand the nature of the philosophic enterprise more generally.

The book has some typos "... the only the dialogue..." in 2.1, for example. Some glitches affect sense at 2.2, "... it's wrong to be concerned about the dead man since he was murdered," should have been "... since he was a murderer," perhaps? Some of these typos may be due to an overbearing spell-check that turned "reductio ad absurdum" into "reduction ad absurdum" at 3.3.3. (His footnote spells it correctly.)

As a matter of style, justifying both margins creates some sentences with distracting white spaces.

If I were still teaching, I'd consider adopting this book as a supplemental text, though I'd hope for a corrected edition.

A. C. W. Bethel (Ph.D)
Professor (Emeritus)
Cal Poly Philosophy Department