Philia and method: A translation and commentary on Plato's 'Lysis'

Philia and Method: A Translation and Commentary on Plato's "Lysis" presents a translation of Plato's dialogue on friendship and a commentary that explores the cultural, literary and philosophical aspects of the dialogue. The translation aims to provide readers with an English version of the dialogue that eschews word-for-word literalness but retains some formality and avoids modern idioms.;The analysis of friendship offered in the dialogue is composed of two parts. In the philosophical arguments of the dialogue Plato explores self-directed reasons for friendship. In the literary setting, characters and situations Plato shows us the other-directed aspects of friendship. Only if we consider these two aspects of friendship can we reach a complete understanding of it. The dialogue presents friendship as a voluntary relationship based on caring for the other for the benefit of both friends and their ability to come to know the good. Friends are fungible on Plato's account because what is important is the character of the friend not the person.;The dialogue can also be studied for the methods of argumentation that Plato employs. In some of the dialogue's arguments Plato criticizes argumentative strategies that were prevalent in Greek thought before him. One of the dialogues central arguments, that concerning the 'proton philon', has a form similar to the 'third man' argument from the "Parmenides" and other arguments in Plato that struggle with the nature of Platonic forms. Thus, my commentary explores not only Platonic ideas about friendship but Platonic argumentative methodology as well.;The dissertation contains two appendices. In one I examine Vlastos's interpretation of the "Lysis". His interpretation has been influential, but my argument aims to show that his interpretation is not conclusive when we consider the evidence for it in the dialogue alone. It requires Vlastos's chronological understanding of the Platonic corpus. In the second I examine a recent argument about the literary aspects of the dialogue that suggests that Socrates should be considered an unreliable narrator. I argue that there is little evidence for that reading within the text and there are good philosophical reasons for not thinking of Socrates in this way.