Misunderstanding Socrates
نویسنده
چکیده
THE NOTION OF A Socratic PHILOSOPHY, as distinct from what is commonly known as Platonism, has its origins in the work of Gregory Vlastos1 and continues today through the scholars he has influenced.2 The Socratic movement in Plato studies maintains that one can identify in certain Platonic dialogues a philosophical method and a collection of philosophical theses which may properly be attributed to Socrates. The enterprise of Socratic philosophy rests upon a series of subtle and, from my point of view, controversial claims, some of which I aim in this short paper to locate and challenge. This is not to say that I am opposed to placing the character Socrates at the center of our understanding of the Platonic texts; to the contrary, the alternate understanding I propose here may strike some as going too far in this direction. Rather, the target of my criticisms will be the conception of Plato’s Socrates upon which current Socratic philosophy rests. I begin with the position taken by Vlastos and those who follow him.
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