Is there a philosophical reason why Plato's late works are in the form of dialogues? In this volume, a group of international scholars addresses that question, offering a series of essays on major late Platonic dialogues and a discussion which has implications for the study of philosophical method.

Why did Plato put his philosophical arguments into dialogues, rather than presenting them in a plain and readily understandable fashion? A group of distinguished scholars here offer answers to this question by studying the relation between form and argument in his late dialogues. These penetrating studies show that the literary structure of the dialogues is of vital importance in the ongoing interpretation of Plato.

The contents of this volume are likely to provide much material for future discussions of late Plato.