PLATÓN - Mistr antického myšlení

The book Plato. Master of Ancient Thought introduces the reader in a systematic but accessible way to Plato's life, work and thought. It is written with the erudition of one of the most important classical fillists of our time, who has summarized the results of a lifetime of research. It reveals factual and ideological contexts that often escape other introductions, which either paraphrase Plato's dialogues or interpret the issues as they are traditionally presented in the secondary literature. The combination of a readable style, an acerbic attention to detail, and the author's exceptional analytical skills has produced a work that may well become a classic within Platonic expository literature. In the first part, the book gives a vivid picture of Plato's life vicissitudes. Here we find a nuanced portrayal of the influence of his teachers (most notably Socrates), an introduction to his role as the founder of the filosofic school, as well as his political involvement in Syracuse. The second part introduces Plato as a writer. Here his work is characterized with support in textual evidence and a balanced position is formulated on the much-discussed issues of the hermeneutics of the dialogues (their chronology, their unity, Plato's critique of writing and its implications for his own work). The last and most extensive section, in which the author focuses on Plato's thought, is structured according to the main systematic themes (the concept of filosofie, anthropology, the doctrine of the soul, ethics, political philosophy, cosmology, the doctrine of ideas, the doctrine of principles, myths and religion). Szlezák discusses the sub-issues with regard to their coherence of thought within the framework of Plato's entire work. 
The present book is also valuable in that as a whole it stimulates reflection on more general hermeneutical issues. It presents the life and thought of the ancient great with historical fidelity and offers a sober assessment of the possibilities for a contemporary reception of Plato's filosofia, as well as a more general starting point for thinking about the meaning of the interpretation of ancient works.

Czech edition