Lysis

Plato, 427？ BCE-347？ BCEProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 67K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Lysis by PlatoAuthor: Plato, 427? BCE-347? BCE,Language: English, Class: PA: Language and Literatures: Classical Languages and Literature, Release Date: Dec 1, 1998

Editor's review

Lysis is a short Platonic dialogue centered on friendship. Socrates converses with the boy Lysis and his companion, asking layer by layer why a friend is a friend; various proposals—like attracts like, the good is dear to the good—are advanced and then run into difficulties, and no conclusion is reached. The dialogue's value lies in displaying the process of Platonic dialectic itself: how definitions are proposed, tested, and overturned, letting the reader experience the rhythm of philosophical inquiry. It suits beginners entering Plato's dialogues: brief and accessible, yet touching on basic questions of friendship, desire, and the good. Don't rush to find a conclusion; attend to the turns in argument and the manner of questioning. Compared with relevant passages in the Symposium or Phaedrus, it reveals Plato's different treatments of love and friendship.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers new to Plato's dialogues who want a short introduction
Thinkers interested in ethical questions of friendship, love, and the good
Lower-level philosophy students using it as supplementary course reading
Readers who enjoy questioning arguments and are willing to follow the dialogue

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking definite conclusions and a systematic theory of friendship
Readers unaccustomed to dialogue form and repeated refutation who prefer direct exposition

Reading tips

On the first pass, simply follow the dialogue; on the second, mark the specific reasons each definition is overturned.
After reading, retell Socrates' sequence of questions in your own words to check whether you grasped the argument's thread.
Read it against the discussion of love in the Symposium to compare the different approaches.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does the dialogue reach a conclusion about friendship?

No clear conclusion. The several accounts of friendship proposed all meet difficulties, and it ends unresolved. This is typical of Plato's early dialogues: the point is to display the process of inquiry and testing, not to deliver a definition.

Do I need to read other Plato works before Lysis?

No. It is short with relatively simple arguments, suitable as an introduction. If you have read early dialogues such as the Apology or Euthyphro, you will more easily adapt to Socrates' questioning rhythm; you can also read it directly without prior background.

Why does Socrates' argument keep overturning itself?

This is the dialectical process Plato deliberately presents: propose a definition, seek counterexamples, revise or abandon it. Overturning is not failure but shows the ambiguities in everyday notions of friendship. Attend to the reason for each turn, not just the conclusion.

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About the author

Plato, 427？ BCE-347？ BCE Author

Plato (c. 427–347 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Reliable details of his life are limited in public sources, and his thought and writings are generally known through later accounts. The library holds 65 of his works, including the multi-volume Republic (Πολιτεία), the Symposium, and the Phaedo. These works are mostly dialogues with Socrates as the central figure, unfolding through question and answer around justice, the governance of the city, love, the soul, and knowledge, combining philosophical inquiry with dramatic literary form. The Republic, which discusses the ideal city and justice, is especially influential. Plato's style is marked by analogy, argument, and open-ended conclusions, and he has had a lasting influence on later Western philosophy and political thought.