"In Interpreting Plato's Dialogues, J. Angelo Corlett succeeds at offering a concise summary of various competing answers to the question of how Plato's dialogues ought to be interpreted. The significance of the question is rooted in the fact that one's assumptions about Plato's mode of expression inevitably influence how one interprets the dialogues. .  . . The central strength of Interpreting Plato's Dialogues is that it points out the dangers inherent in assuming that Plato's views can be harvested from the Platonic dialogues, as well as in presuming that the scholarly tradition has made clear what those views are. Furthermore, he makes a strong case for the necessity of interpreting the dialogues in a way that includes earnest consideration of all dramatic and Socratic elements. . . . if one maintains, pace Corlett, that doctrines can be harvested from Plato's dialogues, Corlett's criticisms should make such interpreters work harder at explaining their assumptions, enabling them to offer more compelling accounts of prominent Platonic "theories," such as the theory of Forms."