Plato's
Tetralogies 
The array below presents the suggested organization of the dialogs in seven tetralogy, one by line of the array. For each tetralogy, the first column lists the "introductory" dialog, and the next three colums list the associated trilogy. From there, you can get to a general comment on the organization of the tetralogies (Overview of Tetralogies), or to comments on individual tetralogies or dialogs.
Note: in this array, only the tetralogies and dialogs for which a comment is currently available, in full or in part, show up as links. As new comments are made available, all titles should eventually become links.
Note of June 6, 2009: in this updated version of what I assume to be the organisational scheme behind the dialogues of Plato, I have made one slight change with regard to the original version of it: in the second tetralogy, I have exchanged the places of the Gorgias and the Hippias Minor in order to make the Hippias Minor the central dialogue of the trilogy in place of the Gorgias and the Gorgias the final dialogue of the trilogy in place of the Hippias Minor. In my earlier proposal, the apparent symmetry resulting from placing the Gorgias between the two Hippias, as one would place a clock between two candlesticks, had obscured the obvious fact that the Gorgias is all about logos and I had not given enough thoughts to the less obvious fact that the Hippias Minor shares with the other central dialogues of trilogies the property of presenting us pairs of characters, namely Achilles and Odysseus on the one hand, as the two favorite heroes of the Greeks, between whom one should chose the hero that will become our role model, Socrates and Hippias on the other hand, the former as the model of "justice" understood along the lines of the Republic, the later as the antithesis of such justice implying that each one should limit oneself to the role is is meant to play in the city, as he is the ultimate example of one who pretends to do everything by himself and claims he knows everything, and also that the fact that the dialogue was taking place at the initiative of a man named Eudicos, whose name means "appropriately just, in one's good right", was a discrete call upon us to properly chose our model of justice in action coupled with a warning againt calling upon Homer and its commentators to orient that choice.
(If your browser can handle tables, click here to get to a tabular version of this page)+--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! !! !! epithumiai ! thumos ! logos ! ! Overview !! aitia !! (desires) ! (will) ! (reason) ! ! of !! (cause) !! phusis ! krisis ! kosmos ! ! Tetralogies !! !! (nature) ! (judgment) ! (order) ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! Tetralogy 1: !! ALCIBIADES !! LYSIS ! LACHES ! CHARMIDES ! ! !! !! ! ! ! !Start of quest!! !! friendship ! manhood ! wisdom ! ! what is man? !! man !! (philo-) ! (andreia) ! (-sophos) ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! Tetralogy 2: !! PROTAGORAS !! HIPPIAS Maj. ! HIPPIAS min. ! GORGIAS ! ! The sophists !! !! ! ! ! ! eikasia !! relativism !! illusion of ! illusion of ! illusion of ! ! (conjecture) !! !! beauty ! the "hero" ! logos ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! Tetralogy 3: !! MENO !! EUTHYPHRO ! THE APOLOGY ! CRITO ! !Socrates'trial!! !! ! OF SOCRATES ! ! ! pistis !! pragmatism !!letter of the ! law ! spirit of the ! ! (true belief)!! !! law ! in action ! law ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! Tetralogy 4: !!THE SYMPOSIUM !! PHÆDRUS ! THE REPUBLIC ! PHÆDO ! ! The soul !! the driving !! nature of ! behaviour of ! destiny of ! ! !! force !! the soul ! the soul ! the soul ! ! psuchè !! eros !! eros<=>logos ! justice ! being ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! Tetralogy 5: !! CRATYLUS !! ION ! EUTHYDEMUS ! MENEXENUS ! !speech (logos)!! !! ! ! ! ! dianoia !!the words of !! logos of the ! logos of the ! logos of the ! ! (knowledge) !! speech !! poet ! sophist ! politician ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! Tetralogy 6: !! PARMENIDES !! THEÆTETUS ! THE SOPHIST ! THE STATESMAN ! ! dialectic !! !! ! ! ! ! epistèmè !! the traps of !!the limits of ! the rules of ! the goals of ! ! (science) !! reason !! reason ! reason ! reason ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+ ! Tetralogy 7: !! PHILEBUS !! TIMÆUS ! CRITIAS ! THE LAWS ! ! Man in world !! !! ! ! ! ! kosmos !! the good of !!contemplating ! deciding ! acting ! ! (order) !! man !! (theoria) ! (krisis) ! (erga) ! +--------------++--------------++--------------+---------------+---------------+