The Socratic Dialogues: Early Period, Volume 1

The Apology, Crito, Charmides, Laches, Lysis, Menexenus, Ion

De: Plato, Benjamin Jowett - translator

Narrado por: David Rintoul, full cast

Here are the Socratic Dialogues presented as Plato designed them to be - living discussions between friends and protagonists, with the personality of Socrates himself coming alive as he deals with a host of subjects, from justice and inspiration to courage, poetry and the gods.

Plato's Socratic Dialogues provide a bedrock for classical Western philosophy. For centuries they have been read, studied and discussed via the flat pages of books, but the ideal medium for them is the spoken word. Some are genuine dialogues while some are dialogues reported by a narrator supposedly at a later date.

Ukemi Audiobooks presents all of the Socratic Dialogues in a series of recordings divided into Early Period (Volumes 1 & 2), Middle Period (Volumes 1 & 2) and Late Period (Volume 1) - based on their likely composition by Plato. This opening volume starts with perhaps the most famous speech, The Apology, Socrates' doomed defence against the charge of heresy and corrupting the young. It is followed by Crito, in which Socrates' friend offers to spirit him out of Athens to avoid execution. Among the others are discussions on Courage (Laches), and Friendship (Lysis).

The role of Socrates is taken by David Rintoul, a widely admired and experienced audiobook reader who studied philosophy at university before taking a different path to RADA, TV, theatre and film. He is joined by a broad range of readers, most known to Audible listeners. Each Dialogue is prefaced with a short introduction to set the scene for newcomers to Plato.

Translation: Benjamin Jowett.

Public Domain (P)2017 Ukemi Audiobooks

A Must Read

utterly brilliant insight into the conversations of the father of western philosophy. Truly feel more complete having read this. Socrates was a better christian than christians.

Becoming one of my favorites

This performance is becoming one of my all time favorite books on Audible. The dialogues are not simply read. There are multiple actors producing the scene for the reader. Sound production is excellent. Ukemi has done a great job.

Entertaining, insightful, stimulating

Stimulating, insightful, entertaining, fun. For goodness sakes it’s Socrates. What else could it be. Using Jowett’s translation. The performers are excellent and enrich the reading of the dialogues.

I liked it very much...

This is a first class rendering of the socratic dialogues...Ukemi produces very fine audiobooks and i always keep an eye on their catalogue...

I really enjoyed it...

Excellent presentation of the Socratic Dialogues

The first six dialogues are performed excellently. In the seventh dialogue, though, the actor playing Ion sounds a bit out of place. His unusual funny accent doesn't quite fit into the perfect classical performance of the other presenters.

Listening to Socrates

Walk down the streets of Athens as you listen to Socrates converse with his fellow citizenship.

All of Plato is excellent and instruction

I enjoyed immensely all of these dialogues translated by Benjamin Jowett and performed superlatively by David Rintoul. Very highly recommended for those who seek an existential edification and a philosophic understanding of Ancient Greece as exemplified by the insightful writings of Plato in the character of Socrates his great teacher. Socrates said true wisdom is knowing that you don’t know. Find out what you don’t know by self and other examination! Rintoul’s performance in the character of Socrates is sheer brilliance, along with a great cast of supportive actors. Each Dialogue is briefly introduced with the characters and setting that are involved. I’m on to the next set of Dialogues in the order that they were supposedly written. The works of Plato, along with Shakespeare and Dostoevsky are my three books that I would take with me on a stranded desert island.

One of those works I will never get tired of

In this audio, the main three dialogues for which I've lost count of how many times I've listened too are "The Apology", "Crito", and "Euthyphro". I would recommend everyone to have at one point read or listened to these dialogues. In my opinion, they contain the closest portrayal to the real Socrates. With that said, I've found these audios to be the best both for the translation used and also for the performances of the actors. Further, I'd like to highlight the performance of Rintoul whom I thought was exceptional at voicing Socrates. The cast too were exceptional, but I find it is hard not to give the glory to Rintoul (Socrates) whom is the main character in all of the dialogues.

David Rintoul is amazing!

Absolutely wonderful narration! Rintoul captures the spirit of the dialogues perfectly. It is much better listening to these than reading them.

Fail

If we come to Socrates without an interest in precision then I have no idea what we're doing.

On the other hand, if we come to Socrates with an interest in precision then the dishonest translation is going to do us in.

So why did I then listen to the whole damn thing?

It's pretty entertaining.