Preface to Plato

Eric Havelock's "Preface to Plato" is a seminal work in classical scholarship that explores the transition from oral to literate culture in ancient Greece.

Havelock argues that the shift from an oral tradition, where knowledge was transmitted through poetry and performance, to a literate one, based on written texts, profoundly altered the way people thought and organized their societies.

The book examines the impact of this change on various aspects of Greek life, including politics, philosophy, and the development of Western thought.

Havelock's analysis emphasizes the role of literacy in shaping individual consciousness and the structure of knowledge itself.

His work has had a lasting influence on the study of classical antiquity and the understanding of the relationship between language, culture, and technology.