Beyond the Veil: Essays in the Dialectical Style of Socrates

Beyond the Veil: Essays in the Dialectical Style of Socrates
Ellis Washington
Hamilton Books
ISBN: 0-7618-2728-5
Literary, Philosophy
Reviewed by Dr. Tami Brady

Beyond the Veil: Essays in the Dialectical Style of Socrates includes 90 essays, plays, and letters writing in the same compositional style as Plato’s philosophical works. This Platonic style includes a series of musings or questioning sessions of individual players to illustrate a dichotomy or oxymoronic in common thought. The purpose of these musings being a catalyst for a change in the way one normally thinks about the world around him or her.
In Beyond the Veil: Essays in the Dialectical Style of Socrates, the author uses the traditional compositional style of Plato’s philosophical musings in a very modern way. Thus, this book contains works that discuss topics such as education, abuse, suicide, racism, money, and breakdown of the family unit. Furthermore, all of these topics are presented from the author’s point of view by sharing his very personal life experiences. Thus, as the author is extremely religious, the overtone in most of the works is that devote faith in the Christian religion will solve all the world’s ills. In this way, many of the best written pieces in this book come off slightly preachy. This aspect may turn off some non-Christian readers immediately creating an obstacle to evolving thought rather than creating a catalyst to a new way of thinking.
Despite this non-Platonic characteristic, the work in this book is well written and discusses important contemporary issues and reflections from an insider’s point of view. Furthermore, the Platonic style, especially the play form, helps give these contemporary issues life and dimension allowing the reader important incite into these life situations.