《泰阿泰德》是柏拉图的一篇重要作品，处于从中期对话录向晚期对话录过渡的阶段。它不可能是一篇早期作品，尽管在形式上它与早期对话录有相似之处，譬如，探究特定概念的定义，采用苏格拉底式的辩驳论证，以无结论的方式结尾，等等。《泰阿泰德》这篇对话录由两场谈话组成。前一场是欧几里德和特尔普西翁两人简短的铺垫性谈话。这两人都是麦加拉人，也是苏格拉底的追随者，在后者临死的时候，这两人都在场。欧几里德在这段简短的谈话中赞美了泰阿泰德，并说他曾经听苏格拉底向他转述了一场涉及泰阿泰德的谈话。欧几里德自称把这场谈话记录下来了，并且让仆人为特尔普西翁朗读出来。这读出来的内容就是《泰阿泰德》的主体部分，它是苏格拉底、塞奥多洛和泰阿泰德之间的一场哲学谈话，其主题是探究“知识”的本性。在结束谈话之时，苏格拉底说自己将去对付美勒托等人的控告。作者在此无疑暗示了苏格拉底的临死。这样，整篇对话录实际上处在临死的泰阿泰德和临死的苏格拉底之间；不难看出，柏拉图创作这部作品同时隐含着对这两人的纪念。

Beginning with a long and extensively rewritten introduction surveying the predecessors of the Presocratics, this book traces the intellectual revolution initiated by Thales in the sixth century B.C. to its culmination in the metaphysics of Parmenides and the complex physical theories of Anaxagoras and the Atomists in the fifth century it is based on a selection of some six hundred texts, in Greek and a close English translation which in this edition is given more prominence. These provide the basis for a detailed critical study of the principal individual thinkers of the time. Besides serving as an essential text for undergraduate and graduate courses in Greek philosophy and in the history of science, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers with interests in philosophy, theology, the history of ideas and of the ancient world, and indeed to anyone who wants an authoritative account of the Presocratics.