The sophists in Plato's Dialogues / David D. Corey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Corey, David D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato. Dialogues.

Plato.

Sophists (Greek philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (328 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Are the sophists merely another group of villains in Plato's dialogues, no different than amoral rhetoricians such as Thrasymachus, Callicles, and Polus? Building on a wave of recent interest in the Greek sophists, The Sophists in Plato's Dialogues argues that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, there exist important affinities between Socrates and the sophists he engages in conversation. Both focused squarely on aretē (virtue or excellence). Both employed rhetorical techniques of refutation, revisionary myth construction, esotericism, and irony. Both engaged in similar ways of minimizing the potential friction that sometimes arises between intellectuals and the city. Perhaps the most important affinity between Socrates and the sophists, David D. Corey argues, was their mutual recognition of a basic epistemological insight—that appearances (phainomena) both physical and intellectual were vexingly unstable. Such things as justice, beauty, piety, and nobility are susceptible to radical change depending upon the angle from which they are viewed. Socrates uses the sophists and sometimes plays the role of sophist himself in order to awaken interlocutors and readers from their dogmatic slumber. This in turn generates wonder (thaumas), which, according to Socrates, is nothing other than the beginning of philosophy.

Contents:

""Contents""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Abbreviations""; ""1. Introduction""; ""Connection to Recent Scholarship""; ""The Literary-Philosophic Approach to Plato""; ""2. Defining the Platonic Sophists""; ""Sophists before the “Sophists�""; ""Plato�s Use of Sophistes""; ""Category 1""; ""Category 2""; ""Category 3""; ""Gorgias and the Rhetoricians""; ""Socrates""; ""Plato�s Purposes""; ""3. The “Great Speech� in Plato�s Protagoras""; ""Socrates� Challenge (319a�320c)""; ""The Theoretical Challenge: Two Objections""; ""The Rhetorical Component: Caution toward Masses and Elites""

""Competing Demands and a Semantic Opening""""The Myth (320c8�322d5)""; ""Moral Fable""; ""Semantic Modulations: From Competitive to Cooperative Virtue""; ""The Political Teaching: Protagoras� Quarrel with Hesiod""; ""Metaballon""; ""Democratic Argument that Virtue Can be Taught (322d�324c)""; ""The Hard Proof (Tekmerion)""; ""The People Believe Virtue Can Be Taught""; ""Argument for Elite Parents (324d�328d)""; ""Conclusion: What the Great Speech Reveals""; ""4. Prodicus: Diplomat, Sophist, and Teacher of Socrates""; ""Deepening the Question: Three Intriguing Passages""

""The Choice of Hercules""""Religious Theory""; ""The Art of Distinction-Making""; ""Weaknesses of Diairesis""; ""Conclusion""; ""5. The Sophist Hippias and the Problem of Polytropia""; ""Hippias Minor: Setting""; ""Forms of Polytropia in Socrates and Hippias""; ""Socratic Polytropia in Action""; ""1. Liars and Truth Tellers Are the Same""; ""2. Achilles, Not Odysseus, Is Most Polytropic""; ""3. Voluntary Wrongdoing Is Better than Involuntary Wrongdoing""; ""Hippias� Polytropia in Action""; ""Pedagogical Significance of Socratic Polytropia""

""Philosophic Significance of Socrates� Fallacies""""Conclusion""; ""6. Brother Sophists: Euthydemus and Dionysodorus""; ""The Frame: Crito as “Lover of Hearing�""; ""Socrates� Introduction to the Encounter""; ""Eristic Scene I""; ""Protreptic Scene I""; ""Eristic Scene II""; ""Protreptic Scene II""; ""Eristic Scene III""; ""Socrates� Conclusion and the Closing Frame""; ""Clouds, Apology, and Conclusion""; ""7. Protagorean Sophistry in Plato�s Theaetetus""; ""Socrates Meets Theodorus and Theaetetus""; ""First Definition: Enumeration of Sciences and Arts""; ""The Midwife Analogy""

""Second Definition: Knowledge Is Perception""""Pig Is the Measure""; ""Knowing While Not Knowing""; ""Expertise""; ""Digression: Philosophy and the Courts""; ""Heraclitians and Parmenideans""; ""The Dialogue�s Opening Frame""; ""The Role of Protagoras in the Search for Wisdom""; ""8. Plato�s Critique of the Sophists?""; ""Anytus""; ""Socrates and Adeimantus""; ""Socrates and Polus""; ""The Eleatic Stranger and Theaetetus""; ""Conclusion""; ""Appendix: A Primer on Hesiod�s Myth of Prometheus""; ""Notes""; ""Bibliography""; ""Index""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438456195

1438456190