Phaedrus: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Phaedrus, credited to Plato, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Phaedrus, by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Read by Martin Geeson. “For there is no light of justice or temperance, or any of the higher ideas which are precious to souls, in the earthly copies of them: they are seen through a glass, dimly…” Socrates and his earnest friend Phaedrus, enjoying the Athenian equivalent of a lunchtime stroll in the park, exchange views on love and on the power of words, spoken and written. Phaedrus is the most enchanting of Plato’s Erotic dialogues (capitalised in honour of the god). The barefoot philosopher urges an eager young acquaintance – who has allowed his lover’s oratorical skills to impress him overmuch – to re-examine the text of Lysias’s speech in the light of his own exalted (and Platonic) vision of Love. Not long ago this early example of literary dismantling was itself deconstructed by a contemporary sage - Jacques Derrida. The present reader tries to present Socrates as he conceivably was: the chortling, pot-bellied ex-soldier, a flirtatious yet charismatic talker with a serious passion for Truth. (Introduction by Martin Geeson)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Phaedrus
• Author credits: Plato
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 14
• Listed recording duration: 3:33:31

Catalogue topics

• ancient greece
• classics
• philosophy
• jowett
• platonic love
• dualism
• Greek homosexuality
• reincarnation

Track guide

1. 01 - — 13:30
2. 02 - — 14:56
3. 03 - — 16:15
4. 04 - — 15:37
5. 05 - — 13:34
6. 06 - — 19:18
7. 07 - — 23:06
8. 08 - — 19:14
9. 09 - — 12:09
10. 10 - — 18:37
11. 11 - — 13:39
12. 12 - — 10:56
13. 13 - — 11:49
14. 14 - — 10:57

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.