LibGuides: Plato: Home

Recommended Books in the SAU library collection

Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed by Gerald A. Press; Press
Call Number: B395 .P74 2007 Second Floor
ISBN: 9780826491763
Publication Date: 2007
It is widely agreed that Plato laid the foundations for the whole history of western thought and, well over 2000 years later, his work is still studied by every student of philosophy. Yet his thought and writings continue to evoke perplexity in readers; and perplexity ( aporia ) is itself a characteristic of many of his writings, a recurrent motif of his thought, and apparently an important stage one must pass through along the path to wisdom that Plato presents. Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Plato's philosophy, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to the important and complex thought of this key philosopher. The book offers a detailed review of all the major dialogues and explores the particular perplexities of the dialogue form. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Plato's thought, the book also provides a cogent and reliable survey of the whole history of Platonic interpretation and his far-reaching influence. This is the ideal companion to the study of this most influential and challenging of philosophers.
Plato's Socrates, Philosophy and Education by James M. Magrini
Call Number: Library Second Floor Stacks LB85.P7 M347 2018
ISBN: 9783319713557
Publication Date: 2018
"This book develops for the readers Plato's Socrates' non-formalized "philosophical practice" of learning-through-questioning in the company of others. In doing so, the writer confronts Plato's Socrates, in the words of John Dewey, as the "dramatic, restless, cooperatively inquiring philosopher" of the dialogues, whose view of education and learning is unique."
Eros in Plato, Rousseau, and Nietzsche by Laurence D. Cooper; Laurence Cooper
Call Number: BD436 .C593 2008 SAU Library Second Floor
ISBN: 9780271033303
Publication Date: 2008
PROFESSOR RECOMMENDED --Includes bibliographical references and index.--" Human beings are restless souls, ever driven by an insistent inner force not only to have more but to be more--to be infinitely more. Various philosophers have emphasized this type of ceaseless striving in their accounts of humanity, as in Spinoza's notion of conatus and Hobbes's identification of "a perpetual and restless desire of power after power." In this book, Laurence Cooper focuses his attention on three giants of the philosophic tradition for whom this inner force was a major preoccupation and something separate from and greater than the desire for self-preservation. Cooper's overarching purpose is to illuminate the nature of this source of existential longing and discontent and its implications for political life. He concentrates especially on what these thinkers share in their understanding of this psychic power and how they view it ambivalently as the root not only of ambition, vigorous virtue, patriotism, and philosophy, but also of tyranny, imperialism, and varieties of fanaticism. But he is not neglectful of the differences among their interpretations of the phenomenon, either, and especially highlights these in the concluding chapter."
The Continuum Companion to Plato by Gerald A. Press (Editor)
Call Number: Library Second Floor Stacks B395 .C643 2012
ISBN: 9780826435354
Publication Date: 2012
Description: "Plato's life : historical and intellectual context -- The dialogues -- Important features of the dialogues -- Topics and themes treated in the dialogues -- Later reception, interpretation and influence of Plato and the dialogues."
The Cambridge Companion to Plato's Republic by G. R. F. Ferrari (Editor)
Call Number: JC71.P6 C36 2007 Second Floor
ISBN: 9780521839631
Publication Date: 2007
Plato by Andrew S. Mason
Call Number: B395 .M3875 2010 Second Floor
ISBN: 9780520265417
Publication Date: 2010
Throughout, this concise volume traces the development of continuing themes in Plato's dialogues and considers the relevance of these themes for modern thought. Drawing on recent scholarship, this engaging introduction offers the ideal, up-to-date overview of a figure who remains essential reading in western history and philosophy.

A Few Articles about Plato

The Republic and the "Limits of Politics" by Dale Hall
more...less...
SAU users only
"Response to Hall" by Allan Bloom
This article replies to the article above by Dale Hall
more...less...
A nice example of academic discourse between scholars.
Maller, M. (2013). The Unexamined Life is Worth Living: A Socratic Perspective. Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, 12, 67-83.
Meckstroth, C. (2012). Socratic method and political science. The American Political Science Review, 106(3), 644-660.

Finding Books and Articles in SAU Library Central

Library Central This link opens in a new window
Library Central combines SAU's book catalog and most of our databases into one unified searching interface. Use Library Central if you're looking to find a wide variety of sources with a minimum amount of searching. The sheer volume of results can be overwhelming, however, so use lots of search filters!

After clicking on the links below, try using the drop down to 'Books, Article and more' to increase the results to include journal articles OR trying clicking on the Partner Libraries tab above the search box to see collections at Iowa research libraries, from which SAU users can get books through Interlibrary Loan.

Plato (as a subject)
Plato (as an author)
Platonists
Neoplatonism
Plato. Republic.
as a subject (Critical guides)
Philosophy, Ancient

Jstor database

Result List Jstor article database for the Search String (political theory) AND (Plato)
For SAU on-campus users only.
more...less...
Once in the database, one may change search terms.

Philosopher's Index database

Philosopher's Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Bibliographic database designed to help researchers easily find publications of interest in the field of philosophy. Please remember that all SAU students and faculty can Interlibrary Loan any materials that are not full-text in the database.

Web sites for Plato

Full-text online Works by Plato
The Internet Classics Archive: 25 works, including The Republic.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Plato
All entries and substantive updates are refereed by the members of a distinguished Editorial Board before they are made public.

A full text e-book (restricted to SAU users)

Plato's Political Philosophy : The Cave
Chapter 1. The Myth of the Cave 1
The Story 6
The Structure of Knowledge 10
Periagoge: The Turning 16
The Existential Question: The Way Up 22
The Social Question: The Way Down 27
Chapter 2. Structure of the World 35
Chapter 3. Bad Plato 53
Freedom 62
Equality 80
Truth (and Lies) 90
Art 99
Chapter 4. Sailing Back from Syracuse 109
Public and Private 113
Good Plato 121
Plato and Freedom 126
Plato and Equality 132
Plato and the Truth 137
Plato and Art 143
Chapter 5. Epilogue 161
Bibliography 175
Index 177

A note to users concerning database searching

If you are not an St. Ambrose University user, your local public library may have access to various databases that are subscription based. Call and ask your public library for details.

PhilPapers.org

Plato in PhilPapers.org
PhilPapers.org
"PhilPapers uses advanced trawling techniques and large-scale crowd-sourcing to monitor all sources of research content in philosophy, including journals, books, personal pages, and open access archives. Our index currently includes 2,481,698 research books and articles. Over 5,000 individuals have contributed content to our index.

PhilPapers includes an Open Access archive that is integrated with its citation index. This innovative fusion has enabled PhilPapers' archive to quickly become the primary open access archive of research in philosophy.

PhilPapers' index and its archive are integrated with the largest structured bibliography in the field. PhilPapers' structured bibliography organizes half a million entries into 5,638 topics at different levels of generality. Classification is maintained by a combination of automatic classification, crowd-sourcing, and curation work done by approximately 400 appointed academics."

SAU Reference Librarian

Stella Herzig

she/hers

Email Me

Contact:

Library 124

563-333-6056

Subjects: English & Literature, Hot Topics, Philosophy, Psychology, Theology & Catholic Studies

Need something we don't have here?

Have you found the perfect article but don't know if we subscribe to it? Here are some steps you can take.

1. We may have access to the journal in another database. In Library Central, you'll find the Journals A-Z List. From here, you can check a search by journal name and retrieve a comprehensive list of databases in which our journals appear.

2. Try searching for the title of the article in Google Scholar. Any research that makes use of taxpayer funding must be eventually released to the public--you might find an openly available copy of your article.

3. Using Interlibrary Loan, the library can ask other libraries that subscribe to the journal to send an electronic copy of the article you want. Set up a free user account with your SAU network login to request articles and books. Interlibrary Loan is a service offered to SAU students, faculty & staff only.

Using Google Scholar Effectively as an SAU student
Link your gmail profile to Google Scholar to see an Access@SAU link to our databases!

Helpful Handouts

Handout on using Jstor for Philosophy Research
step-by-step guide

Streaming video

Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
This database is restricted to SAU community users only. These users can create an account in Films on Demand to save searches and videos in personal playlists onsite.
Feature Films for Education This link opens in a new window
This education database contains over 750 films which might be of interest to Education majors.
Archival Films & Newsreels Collection This link opens in a new window
This streaming video product includes over 13,000 video clips and over 5,000 full-length videos covering a range of historical topics and eras.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy is an video streaming service that provides access to over 30,000 feature films, documentaries, and educational videos across a wide variety of subjects. Can be viewed on-and-off-campus and is completely free for the SAU community.

SAU Users only

Reference Hours when classes are in session

Monday-Thursday, 7:45 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Friday, 7:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, No reference services; building open 1-5pm
Sunday, 1pm - 9:00 p.m.

Reference Desk 563/333-6245
Email at : librefdesk@sau.edu