Surveying many of Plato's dialogues from the early, middle, and late<BR>periods, prominent philosopher John M. Rist shows how Plato gradually<BR>realized the need for metaphysics to support his ethical position<BR>and that a rigorous ethics required a secure metaphysics grounded in<BR>universal values.<BR>Plato came to realize that his earlier attempts to construct the relevant<BR>metaphysics, culminating in the Republic, were incomplete and<BR>his argumentation was insufficiently rigorous. Rist explains Plato's ongoing<BR>refinement of the theory of Forms and his hesitant attempts to<BR>relate claims about Forms to ideas about a divine mind (or god), which<BR>could offer an account of a transcendent reality as not only a formal<BR>and final cause of cosmic goodness and providence, but also an efficient<BR>cause.<BR>Rist concludes the book by considering what more would be needed<BR>to complete Plato's theory without making damaging compromises to<BR>the basic principles of his metaphysics of morals. He sketches how Plato<BR>might reply to various contemporary approaches to moral reasoning<BR>and especially moral obligation.