Dialogues of Plato - MobileReference [10]
I. Euthyphro, (The) Apology (of Socrates), Crito, Phaedo
II. Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman
III. Parmenides, Philebus, (The) Symposium, Phaedrus
IV. First Alcibiades, Second Alcibiades, Hipparchus, (The) (Rival) Lovers
V. Theages, Charmides, Laches, Lysis
VI. Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno
VII. (Greater) Hippias (major), (Lesser) Hippias (minor), Ion, Menexenus
VIII. Clitophon, (The) Republic, Timaeus, Critias
IX. Minos, (The) Laws, Epinomis, Epistles.
Works not in Thrasyllus' tetralogies
The remaining works were transmitted under Plato's name, most of them already considered spurious in antiquity, and so were not included by Thrasyllus in his tetralogical arrangement. These works are labelled as Notheuomenoi ("spurious") or Apocrypha.
Axiochus, Definitions, Demodocus, Epigrams, Eryxias, Halcyon, On Justice, On Virtue, Sisyphus.
Stephanus pagination
The usual system for making unique references to sections of the text by Plato derives from a 16th century edition of Plato's works by Henricus Stephanus. An overview of Plato's writings according to this system can be found in the Stephanus pagination article.
Plato's Dialogues
The exact order in which Plato's dialogues were written is not known, nor is the extent to which some might have been later revised and rewritten. However, according to modern linguistic theory there is enough information internal to the dialogues to form a rough chronology. The dialogues are normally grouped into three fairly distinct periods, with a few of them considered transitional works, and some just difficult to place. Friedrich Schleiermacher, whose translation of Plato into German still stands uncontested in Germany, is very likely the first to have divided Plato's dialogues into three distinct periods. However, his ordering is quite different from the modern one, and rather than being based upon philology, he claims to have traced Plato's philosophical development. Schleiermacher divides the dialogues thus:
Foundation: Phaedrus, Lysis, Protagoras, Laches, Charmides, Euthyphro, Parmenides;
Transition: Gorgias, Theaetetus, Meno, Euthydemus, Cratylus, Sophist, Statesman, Symposium, Phaedo, Philebus
Culmination: The Republic, (Critias, Timaeus, The Laws)
The final three dialogues above, in parentheses, were not translated by Schleiermacher, though ten other dialogues (including Ion, etc.) were translated and deemed spurious. Finally, Schleiermacher maintained that the Apology and probably the Crito were Plato's memory of Socrates' actual words.
Lewis Campbell was the first to make exhaustive use of stylometry to prove objectively that the Critias, Timaeus, Laws, Philebus, Sophist, and Statesman were all clustered together as a group, while the Parmenides, Phaedrus, Republic, and Theaetetus belong to a separate group, which must be earlier (given Aristotle's statement in his Politics that the Laws was written after the Republic; cf. Diogenes Laertius Lives 3.37).
Many of the positions in the ordering are still highly disputed. The generally agreed upon modern ordering is as follows.
Early dialogues
Socrates figures in all of these, and they are considered the most faithful representations of the historical Socrates; hence they are also called the Socratic dialogues. Most of them consist of Socrates discussing a subject, often an ethical one (friendship, piety) with a friend or with someone presumed to be an expert on it. Through a series of questions he will show that apparently they don't understand it at all. It is left to the reader to figure out if "he" really understands "it". This makes these dialogues "indirect" teachings. This period also includes several pieces surrounding the trial and execution of Socrates.
Apology
Crito
Charmides
Laches
Lysis
Euthyphro
Menexenus
Lesser Hippias
Ion
The following are variously considered transitional or middle period dialogues:
Gorgias
Protagoras
Meno
Middle dialogues
Late in the early dialogues Plato's Socrates actually begins supplying answers to some of the questions