# Does reading Plato get any easier? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448 "2004-09-07T04:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/1 "2004-09-07T04:52:04Z")
I read about 50 pages of this boring mind blowing inanity. I can’t take much more. When will I start to understand it? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/2 "2004-09-07T04:53:36Z")
Drop Philosophy now. Don’t let it get to Kant. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/3 "2004-09-07T05:32:44Z")
Ah, to read Plato for the first time ever! I can’t wait to experience that! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/4 "2004-09-07T05:39:26Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > Drop Philosophy now. > > Don’t let it get to Kant. Heck, if he can’t handle Plato she/he’s never going to make it through Aristotle. Plato is probably one of the more readable of the major philosophers, and I can’t remember ever having much difficulty with his work. It’s certainly not “boring mind blowing inanity”. **Lakai** , if you would care to mention _what_ you’re reading I or someone else might be able to offer some help, but you’d probably be better off speaking to your professor (I’m assuming you didn’t read 50 pages of something you didn’t enjoy just for kicks). ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/5 "2004-09-07T05:53:01Z")
My first exposure to Plato was when we studied the \*Apology \* in fifth form at school - in Ancient Greek. That was \*\*hard \*\* work. But it did get easier after a couple of months. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/6 "2004-09-07T11:07:34Z")
Well, the older dialogs are definitely more readable. His later works (the _Laws_ for example) are very, very heavy and not a little boring, while I found the earlier ones interesting. Could it be a problem in the translation? You could also consider, if you didn’t, an annotated edition with some kind of commentary, it could make things easier. The scene I most vividly remember from Plato’s dialogues is one describing a sophist trying to demonstrate to a friend that, since he had a female dog that just had puppies, he was a son of a bitch (sorry) and the puppies were his brothers. And what about his description of the personification of Love? Great reading. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/7 "2004-09-07T11:55:04Z")
I might of exaggerated on the “boring mind blowing inanity” I know it is about something. It just has too many points made at the same time in one sentence with many, many, commas. The book is Plato-Euthyphro- Apology- Crito- Phaedo- Phaedrus. Translated by Harold North Fowler. I’m reading the Phaedrus part. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/8 "2004-09-07T13:14:11Z")
Try it in the original Greek. Much more satisfying that way… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/9 "2004-09-07T15:40:45Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Heck, if he can’t handle Plato she/he’s never going to make it through Aristotle. Really? I found Aristotle a lot easier than Plato. He was a lot more straight forward, at least. None of this sort of: > [@](#): > > Socrates: And is it the goal of a doctor to make people better or more sick? > Gorgidas: To make people better. > S: And a doctor who makes people better, we call a good doctor, because he fufills his goals. > G. In truth, Socrates, it is that way. > S. And did we not say before that the goal of a lawmaker is to pass laws for the benefit of all? > G. We did > S. So then we call a man a good lawmaker if the laws he passes benefits everyone. > G. I see that now, Socrates. You’re the most brilliant man ever, because you made me contradict myself by using facile analogies and asking loaded questions to get me to state what you wanted me to. Now drink the hemlock/ With Aristotle, it would be like: > [@](#): > > Laws that a polis could pass come in two kinds. Some benefit everyone in the polis, while others only benefit some. However, those that benefit everyone are generally higher esteemed than those who benefit only a few. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-reading-plato-get-any-easier/263448/10 "2004-09-07T16:03:10Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > I might of exaggerated on the “boring mind blowing inanity” I know it is about something. It just has too many points made at the same time in one sentence with many, many, commas. Sounds like a translation issue more than anything else.