Plato's Dialogues: Path to Initiation

For millennia, hundreds of books have been written on Plato's dialogues and philosophy. In this book, Carol Dunn makes the case that the major modern scholars interpret Plato with an overwhelming focus on understanding the rational content of the dialogues, but omit or neglect the project of their purpose. Once they have mined the individual dialogues for their meaning, they neglect to share what readers can or should do with the knowledge gained from their investigations.

The author makes the case that Plato is engaged not only in thinking but also, and more important, in doing--that what we do with the knowledge is crucial, because it can determine the meaning and purpose of our own life. She saw that he was not merely engaging in rational philosophical discussion, but that the dialogues of Plato, especially up to the Republic, embody the Socratic exhortation for each individual to "take care for the soul." The dialogues therefore embody both a rational philosophy and a system of spiritual/religious principles and doctrines whose purpose is to lay out--in a public forum--the path a true disciple needs to take to have a personal and direct experience of spiritual illumination, or enlightenment.

This book is not just for scholars of Plato's philosophy, but for anyone who wishes to penetrate an ancient, though largely overlooked, path to initiation.

Author: Carol Dunn
Publisher: Portal Books
Published: 12/01/2012
Pages: 360
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.71d
ISBN: 9780983198468

Review Citation(s):
Christianity Today 06/01/2014 pg. 70

About the Author
Dunn, Carol: -

CAROL DUNN was born in England and moved to the U.S., where she obtained a BA in Philosophy and Art History, and an MA in Philosophy from the City University of New York. Throughout this time she maintained a serious interest in Eastern metaphysics and studied various aspects of New Age spirituality. Her first book, Plato's Dialogues: Path to Initiation, suggests that Plato's dialogues--a testimony to rational thought--contain a subtext that reveals a step-by-step pathway to higher knowledge and eventual initiation into the mysteries. Carol is currently working on her third book that seeks to show unity in the different pathways to union with God.