QUESTIONS

On October 22, 1924 I wrote: ‘Those who turn to internet for information on Plato are directed to 'PLATONIC CHRONOLOGY AND WRITINGS'. There they 'learn' that Plato began to write his dialogues after 399, that is after Socrates' death. The dialogue Meno figures there among dialogues written in 'Plato's second writing period', from 388 to 367.

Today, May 1, 2025, I looked in vain for 'PLATONIC CHRONOLOGY AND WRITINGS'. This is a welcome change, but still, if one googles Plato’s Meno one is ‘informed’ that the dialog was ‘written by Plato around 385 BC’, that is some 15 years after Socrates’ death, and if one googles Plato, under Chronology one reads:

‘No one knows the exact order Plato's dialogues were written in, nor the extent to which some might have been later revised and rewritten. The works are usually grouped into Early, Middle, and Late period; The following represents one relatively common division amongst developmentalist scholars.^[91]

• Early: Apology, Charmides, Crito, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Hippias Minor, Hippias Major, Ion, Laches, Lysis, Protagoras
• Middle: Cratylus, Euthydemus, Meno, Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic, Symposium, Theatetus’

The fact that the dialogues begin with the Apology means that the doctrine, according to which Plato began to write his dialogues only after Socrates’ death, which has dominated platonic studies since the German scholar Max Pohlenz in 1913 published ‘Aus Platos Werdezeit’, is still presented on Internet as given, i.e. as the introduction to Plato.

WHY?

Let me direct this question to Oxford classicists.

Before we (my ‘we’ encompasses all those, who are interested in Plato) receive the answer, I cannot but speculate.

If the classicists accept that Plato began to write his dialogues prior to Socrates’ death, they must thoroughly rethink the whole of Plato, including his Laws. Much of this rethinking may be done with the help of the existing translations of Plato’s dialogs, but it can be properly performed only on the Greek originals. Who can undertake the task?

But these questions point me to another question: Since the Oxford classicists appear to have given up the doctrine that Plato began to write his dialogues only after Socrates’ death, how is it possible that the Internet continues to ‘inform’ its readers that Plato began to write his dialogues after the death of Socrates?