Plato Out Loud
To understand western philosophy you must begin with Plato and his teacher Socrates. As Alfred North Whitehead said, "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." Through the many Socratic Dialogues which Plato wrote and Plato's Republic we come to know his theory of the forms embodied in the true, the good, and the beautiful. We hear Plato's political philosophies regarding the three forms of government: aristocracy, democracy, and monarchy. And in the end we are not left with a dogmatic philosophy that we should follow, but rather a Socratic method of questioning and the familiar quotation: "An unexamined life is not worth living." LearnOutLoud.com has created this resource of Plato's works on audio, along with audio books and courses about Plato and Socrates.
The main publisher of Plato's works on audio is Agora Publications, Inc.. They are the only publisher to offer an unabridged dramatized version of Plato's Republic. This full cast dramatization of the philosophical and literary classic is available on CD and Digital Download. Agora also offers many of Plato's dialogues including Plato's Gorgias, Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo, Plato's Ion and Meno, and Plato's Symposium all available on audio download through LearnOutLoud.com. They also publish Reflections on the Mind of Plato by Professor Joseph Norio Uemura in which he examines and interprets six of Plato's dialogues.
Other audio books by Plato include an abridged version of The Republic and The Trial and the Death of Socrates both put out by NAXOS AudioBooks. Blackstone Audiobooks features The Dialogues of Plato and an unabridged edition of The Republic on audio cassette. And there is also a free audio download of Plato's Apology available from the folks at Voices in the Dark.
There are also many titles about Socrates and Plato. The very best lecture course on these two philosophers is Professor Michael Sugrue's Plato, Socrates, and the Dialogues put out by The Teaching Company on cassette and audio download. The Teaching Company also offers another Plato course on audio & video entitled Plato's Republic. Barnes & Noble's Portable Professor series offers the lecture course The Birth of Western Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle which also covers Plato's student Aristotle.
Scholar A. E. Taylor examines these Plato & Socrates in his audio books The Mind of Plato and Socrates: The Man and His Thought. For a brief introduction to Plato check out Plato In 90 Minutes. And for a free download of audio notes on Socrates check out Zaadz Notes: Socrates.
Socrates didn't believe in writing words down (lucky for us Plato did). So in true Socratic tradition, take in the wisdom of these thinkers the way that Socrates intended, by listening to it on audio.