The Good News About Wisdom

The Dialogues of Plato are a series of philosophical works that cover a broad spectrum of topics. These dialogues are categorized into three periods: early, middle, and late. The early dialogues, such as 'Apology' and 'Crito', focus on Socratic method and ethical questions. The middle period includes works like 'The Republic' and 'Phaedo', where Plato develops his own philosophical views, including the theory of Forms and the nature of justice and the soul. The late dialogues, such as 'Theaetetus' and 'Laws', are more didactic and less dramatic, delving into metaphysics and the nature of reality. These dialogues are renowned for their exploration of central philosophical questions, including the nature of justice, the ideal society, the immortality of the soul, and the distinction between the world of senses and the world of Forms.

This magisterial history, written by Edward Gibbon, covers the peak of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity, the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the rise and fall of various other empires and civilizations up to the fall of Byzantium in 1453. Gibbon's work is renowned for its thorough scholarship, diverse sources, and engaging prose. He argues that the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions partly due to the gradual loss of civic virtue among its citizens and critiques the role of Christianity in the empire's decline. The work was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789 and has remained a seminal work in historical literature despite some criticisms from modern scholars.