Importance of the Argument

I am having second thoughts about my essay now that it's due date has arrived. I chose to write about the argument of forms because that perplexed me the most and I don't think I am capable of writing a short essay on all the arguments posed throughout Phaedo. While re-reading the dialogue, I noticed that Socrates did not thoroughly define the theory of forms before Crito, Cebes, and Simmias agreed with him. Perhaps Plato didn't think that Socrates needed to explain himself because he thought so highly of his teacher.

Comments

  1. Matt SillimanApril 2, 2017 at 2:09 PM

    The theory of forms, if theory it is, never really gets spelled out in the dialogues except tacitly. Parmenides is as close to an explicit treatment of it as we have (and again it's largely assumed as background).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plato's Socrates

I am intrigued by how beautiful Plato made Socrates. Plato did say that the Socrates in his dialogues was made out to be young and beautiful. Why does Plato create an opposite of his historically ugly and elderly mentor? I think that Plato understood societies shallow misconception of true beauty. Plato used a rhetoric that painted an ideal picture for his audience which captured their attention. This image gave Plato an opportunity to educate on some of Socrates most complex philosophical theories. The arguments throughout the dialogues thus far, both the good and the bad, have nevertheless given Socrates a God-like image. If only everyone could be as calm about drinking Hemlock as Socrates...
Read more

Ambiguity

Ambiguity seemed like a hot-button topic during last Monday's class. The ambiguity of teaching seems to come from an individual's ability to perceive concepts differently depending on who their teacher is and what is being taught. Plato's character, Socrates, seems to avoid the ambiguity of difficult concepts such as justice and virtue by attempting to speak the language of the discourse community that surrounds him. Plato provides Socrates with literary tools that allow his audience to use personal experiences as a basis for the concepts they are attempting to define. I made the analogy for teaching virtue (or concepts such as love, friendship, etc.) as teaching a language in Monday's class because although one can be taught how to spell a word, I believe that only through practice and experience can one learn how to apply it.
Read more