Plato did not create his philosophy ex nihilo, but rather drew on four centuries of literary production in epic and lyric poetry, as well as on ethnography and historiography, tragedy and comedy, medical and mathematical research, oratory and rhetorical theory. "Words and Ideas" offers a study of Plato's philosophical language against this cultural background, retracing to their origins the history and development of the key terms of the Theory of Forms as presented in the phaedo. 'Form' or 'idea', 'essence' or 'being', 'participation', 'presence' and 'community' are among the terms investigated. The aim is to determine the precise historical and philosophical contexts on which Plato drew in the formulation of his thoughts. In tracing the roots of Plato's philosophy, "Words and Ideas" demarcates afresh Plato's position regarding the protagonists of pre-Socratic philosophy: Parmenides and the Eleatics, Anaxagoras and Diogenes of Apollonia, Leucippus and Democritus, Philolaus and the Pythagoreans. This identification of his sources allows us, in many cases for the first time, to judge what in the arguments of the dialogues is Plato's own contribution and what is there only as part of a philosophical or pre-philosophical inheritance.

New Essays on Plato assembles nine original papers on the language and thought of the Athenian philosopher. The collection encompasses issues from the Apology to the Laws and includes discussions of topics in ethics, political theory, psychology, epistemology, ontology, physics and ancient literary criticism. The contributions by an international team of scholars deliberately represent a spectrum of diverse traditions and approaches and offer new solutions to a selection of specific problems. Themes include the Happiness and Nature of the Philosopher-Kings, Law and Justice, the Tripartition of the Soul, Appearance and Belief, Image Recognition, the Reality of Change and Changelessness, Time and Eternity, and Aristotle on Plato. c.

This volume, the fourth in the series "Edinburgh Leventis Studies," comprises a selection of papers from the conference held in Edinburgh in March 2005, when Professor Terry Penner was the visiting Leventis Research Professor of Greek.

It brings together contributions from leading Plato scholars from Britain, Europe and North America on a closely defined topic central to Plato's thought and to Ancient Philosophy --Plato's "Form of the Good," The importance of the collection lies in the combination and presentation in one place of a range of different approaches to the good in Plato's "Republic," and different solutions to the problems posed and proposed by these approaches. The two central issues, which form an underlying thread throughout the collection, are: first whether Plato's "Republic" is centred on what is good for individual humans, or on some quasi-moral good; and secondly, what the Form of the Good is.

"Pursuing the Good" goes beyond recent studies in the field, and will appeal to Classicists and Philosophers alike. To the advanced student, it represents a wide-ranging introduction to central issues of Plato's philosophy; for the academic it will provide stimulus through antithetical and controversial solutions to questions old and new.