4 h 16 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 105 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 105 pagesAbout this book
What if the way you love and the way you persuade reveal the same thing about your soul?
On a hot afternoon outside the city walls, Socrates and Phaedrus walk beside a stream. Phaedrus brings a speech by Lysias that argues for the cool, unloving suitor. Socrates takes up the challenge, turning their conversation toward beauty, desire, and the question of whether madness can sometimes be a gift.
In Plato’s Phaedrus, love and language become parts of one inquiry: how can we guide a soul toward truth? Socrates pictures the soul as a winged chariot, then asks what makes speech good or bad. The conversation reaches beyond persuasion to challenge what writing can teach—and what it cannot.
What you’ll discover
- A walk beyond the walls Follow Socrates and Phaedrus into the countryside, where a love speech opens larger questions.
- Love as divine madness Explore Socrates’ claim that love can turn the soul toward beauty and truth.
- The soul’s winged chariot Meet Plato’s vivid image of a charioteer and two horses as Socrates examines the soul.
- Persuasion with a purpose Ask why good speaking needs more than skill: truth and knowledge of the listener’s soul.
- The limits of writing Consider whether written words help us remember without giving us wisdom of their own.
Is it for you?
This is for readers who like to think about love, persuasion and the written word, and for anyone curious about how Plato argues in a lively, playful voice. If you want a plain, step by step treatise, its shifts of mood and its myths may feel loose.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A walk outside the walls sets the scene
- Lysias argues for the cool, unloving suitor
- Madness can be a gift from the gods
- The soul is a charioteer with two horses
- Good speaking needs truth and knowledge of souls
- Writing helps memory but cannot give wisdom
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A walk outside the walls sets the scene
Most Platonic dialogues take place in the city, among crowds, courts and dinner parties. Phaedrus is unusual because it moves out into the countryside. Socrates meets Phaedrus, who has just spent the morning with the speechwriter Lysias, and Phaedrus is carrying a written copy of a speech he admires. Socrates, who rarely leaves Athens, teases him into reading it aloud.
The two men walk along the river Ilissus and choose a spot under a tall plane tree. The grass is soft, the air is full of the song of cicadas, and there is a shrine to nymphs nearby. Socrates remarks that he learns nothing from trees and fields, only from people in the city. Yet the place works on him, and he soon speaks as if he were inspired.
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What is Plato's Phaedrus about?
It is a conversation between Socrates and a young man named Phaedrus. It starts with speeches about love, moves to the nature of the soul, and then asks what makes speaking and writing good or bad.
What is the myth of the charioteer in Phaedrus?
Socrates pictures the soul as a charioteer driving two winged horses, one noble and one unruly. It shows how reason has to steer the other drives of the soul toward the truth.
What does Plato say about writing in Phaedrus?
Through the story of Theuth and Thamus, Socrates argues that writing can weaken memory and give only the look of wisdom. A text cannot answer questions, so living conversation teaches better.
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