Plato's Socrates as educator / Gary Alan Scott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scott, Gary Alan, 1952- author.

Series:

SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy

SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy Plato's Socrates as educator

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Socrates.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 251 p. )

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, [2000]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite his ceaseless efforts to purge his fellow citizens of their unfounded opinions and to bring them to care for what he believes to be the most important things, Plato's Socrates rarely succeeds in his pedagogical project with the characters he encounters. This is in striking contrast to the historical Socrates, who spawned the careers of Plato, Xenophon, and other authors of Socratic dialogues. Through an examination of Socratic pedagogy under its most propitious conditions, focusing on a narrow class of dialogues featuring Lysis and Alcibiades, this book answers the question: "why does Plato portray his divinely appointed gadfly as such a dramatic failure?"

Contents:

Socrates and Teaching

Why Socrates Denies Being a Teacher

Conventional Athenian Assumptions about Teachers and Teaching

Socrates as Student: The Contrast between a Market and a Gift Economy

The Meaning of "Teaching" in the Gorgias: "Additive" versus "Integrative" Models

Conclusion: The Socratic Paideusis

The Lysis: Limits and Liberation in Socrates' Encounter with Lysis

The Threshold Imagery in the Dramatic Setting and Prologue (203a1-206e2)

Socrates' First Conversation with Lysis (206e3-211b5)

Step One

The Unsettling: Disturbing What Is Familiar

Step Two

The Arousal: Fanning the Flames of Desire

Step Three

The Chastening: Reimposing Limits

Conclusion: The Positive Results of the Lysis

The Alcibiades I: Socratic Dialogue as Self-Care

Disarming Alcibiades: The Preliminary Contest

Introduction to the Problem of Taking Trouble over Oneself

The Meaning of Taking Trouble over Oneself

Practices for "Taking Trouble": Gumnastike and Mathesis

Gumnastike and Dialogue

Learning What Needs to Be Learned

Conclusion: The Ominous End of the Alcibiades I

The Symposium: Eros, Truth Telling, and the Preservation of Freedom

Alcibiades' Motive in the Agon with Socrates

Alcibiades' Attempt to Dominate Socrates

Eros and Thumos

The Vindication of Socrates' Approach to Others

Irony and Inebriation: Two Ways of Telling the Truth

Six Points of Emphasis in Alcibiades' Speech

Inebriation and Parrhesia in Truth Telling

Conclusion: Adjudicating the Agon over Truth Telling.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-244) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780791491928

0791491927

9780585431079

0585431078