for a 13 year old, which

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Solon

FWIW, Aristotle was Alexander's teacher. While Aristotle is a successor to Socratic inquiry (via Plato), I think Aristotle instilled in Alexander some ideas very different from those of Plato (and by extension, Socrates, although it's hard to separate Plato's philosophy from Socrates' in the Platonic dialogues). E.g. notions of kingship.

If you're interested in Socrates himself, I like the Apologies written by Plato and Xenophon. There are nice (affordable) Penguin editions of both:

Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (1993).
Xenophon, Conversations of Socrates (1990).

If it's Plato you like, there are many dialogues to choose from and most people are more qualified to recommend specific philosophical themes than I. I like Ion because it's the shortest and deals with poets and inspiration. Sometimes it's nice to be able to get through a dialogue quickly without getting bogged down in tangents. I also like the Symposium because it's so entertaining, but you might not want to tackle all the facets of ancient Greek erotic love and homosexuality just yet.

Good luck. Sounds like your kid is a mental heavyweight.

You're right, Aristotle, not Socrates. I knew I was screwing up my dates. 400s versus 300s. See I'm no classicist just another in a long line of dumb lawyers.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by Archaea

just another in a long line of dumb lawyers.

Yeah, real dumb: teaching yourself Greek and reading up on anomolous monism.

Incidentally, some of the most important breakthroughs in Classics/Ancient History have come from non-specialists. Michael Ventris was an architect with a knack for languages and he deciphered Linear B (proving it was a Greek syllabary). Heinrich Schliemann was an enthusiastic businessman and had a lot of shortcomings as an archaeologist, but his digging at Troy and Mycenae profoundly affected our understanding of Greek (pre-)history.

Currently, a French accountant who claims to have deciphered Linear A. Although he's being ridiculed by academics, Ventris also initially met with deep hostility from the Good Old Boys. It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.