![]() ![]() Why the change? Universal consensus is not to be had but the majority view among scholars is that while the early dialogues repeat or recreate the historical Socrates' method of question and answer, in these later dialogues Plato elaborates his own ideas and arguments. The 'Socrates' of the Republic is Plato speculating under Socrates' name. Socrates' name may - though we can never know - be retained because Plato derived his initial philosophical impetus from the elentic historical Socrates and is honouring the growth-point of his philosophy. A point about the Socratic speechesĪ final point should be made. The Republic's Socratic speeches are not dogmatic orations. The analogy of the sun (VI.507D), the line (509D), and the cave (VII.514A), an epistemological and metaphysical axis of the text, are only 'as if' accounts - stand-ins for properly accurate, non-allegorical analyses and expositions (VI.506D-507A).Īs well, whatever Socrates says about the psuche (soul) and its virtues ( aretai) is provisional. Whatever Socrates engages in, it is not the dogmatic speechifying of a supposedly all-wise figure.Īt IV.435c–d and 504b ff.VI we are told that the full, precise truth about these matters can only be discovered via a longer road on which the Republic cannot embark. ReferencesĬhristopher Rowe, 'Socrates and Plato', Phronesis, Vol. ![]() Graham, 'Socrates and Plato', Phronesis, Vol. Gregory Vlastos, 'The Socratic Elenchus', The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 11, Seventy-Ninth Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division (Nov., 1982), pp. ![]()
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