Th. A. Szlezák's book Platon und die Schriftlichkeit der Philosophie. Interpretationen zu den frühen und mittleren Dialogen published in 1985 rapidly became an internationally recognised classic in the interpretation of Plato. A close textual analysis of the Dialogues revealed new insights into the relationship of Plato's textual criticism and his auctorial activity. Following on logically from this, Szlezák now brings the same approach to bear on Plato's late dialogues. With this, he presents the first comprehensive study of Socrates the dialectician in the totality of Plato's work with results which are highly relevant for Plato's concept of philosophy.