PLATO HAD a love-hate relationship with the arts.He must have had some love for the arts，and his influence on western culture generally is a very strong one，and this includes a strong influence on the arts，and on theories of art.
Beauty，Justice，and Circle are all examples of what Plato called Forms or Ideas.For Plato，these Forms are perfect Ideals，but they are also more real than physical objects.He called them"the Really Real"，so art is imitation，and the best human life is one that strives to understand and to imitate the Forms as closely as possible.
在西方，柏拉圖一項被稱作哲學(xué)家中的哲學(xué)家。柏拉圖散見于各篇對話中有關(guān)藝術(shù)及美學(xué)方面的論述是西方美學(xué)和文藝學(xué)的重要源頭，舉凡《理想國》有關(guān)藝術(shù)功用的探討；《大希庇阿斯篇》有關(guān)美與形式、質(zhì)料之間的關(guān)系的論述；《會宴篇》有關(guān)美的本質(zhì)的對話，并斷言美是一種先驗的絕對理式，“是永恒的，無始無終的，不生不滅、不增不減的。一切美的事物都以它為源泉，有了它，那一切美的事物才成其為美”，首次將人類的審美活動上升到哲學(xué)層面來考量。凡此種種，都為后世的美學(xué)家解決審美體驗、美的本質(zhì)等問題開了無數(shù)方便法門。
本書所選各篇均配有英國著名古典學(xué)家本·喬伊特撰寫的導(dǎo)言，既對占希臘社會生活概貌有生動的介紹，又清晰地勾勒出柏拉圖學(xué)說的基本構(gòu)架，十分有益f初學(xué)者入門。
PLATO（424/423 BC-348/347 BC），was a Classical Greek philosopher，mathematician，student of Socrates，writer of philosophical dialogues，and founder of the
Academy in Athens，the first institution of higher earning in the Western world，just as A.N.Whitehead says：
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato，I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings，I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.
Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects，including philosophy，logic，educes，rhetoric，and mathematics.
I ION
INTRODUCTION
ION
II REPUBLIC（BOOKII、 BOOKIII、 BOOKX）
INTRODUCTION
REPUBLIC
III PHAEDRUS
INTRODUCTION
PHAEDRUS
IV HIPPIASMAJOR
V SYMPOSIUM
INTRODUCTION
SYMPOSIUM
VI PHILEBUS
INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS
PHILEBUS
VII LAWS （BOOKII）
INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS
LAWS（BOOK II）
The division into books，like all similar divisions，is probably later than the age of Plato.The natural divisions are five in number;-（l）Book I and the first half of Book II down to the paragraph beginning，'I had always admired the genius of Glaucon and Adeimantus，'which is introductory;the first book containing a refutation of the popular and sophistical notions of justice，and concluding，like some of the earlier Dialogues，without arriving at any definite result.To this is appended a restatement of the nature of justice according to common opinion，and an answer is demanded to the question-What is justice，stripped of appearances?The second division（2）includes the remainder of the second and the whole of the third and fourth books，which are mainly occupied with the construction of the first State and the first education.
The third division（3）consists of the fifth，sixth，and seventh books，in which philosophy rather than justice is the subject of inquiry，and the second State is constructed on principles of communism and ruled by philosophers，and the contemplation of the idea of good takes.the place of the social and political virtues.In the eighth and ninth books（4）the perversions of States and of the individuals who correspond to them are reviewed in succession;and the nature of pleasure and the principle of tyranny are further analyzed in the individual man.
The tenth book（5）is the conclusion of the whole，in which the relations of philosophy to poetry are finally deternuned，and the happiness of the citizens in this life，which has now been assured，is crowned by the vision of another.
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