The Sophists In Plato S Dialogues

Draws out numerous affinities between the sophists and Socrates in Plato’s dialogues. 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 aret? (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.

In this book, Marina McCoy explores Plato's treatment of the rhetoric of philosophers and sophists through a thematic treatment of six different Platonic dialogues, including Apology, Protagoras, Gorgias, Republic, Sophist, and Phaedras. She argues that Plato presents the philosopher and the sophist as difficult to distinguish, insofar as both use rhetoric as part of their arguments. Plato does not present philosophy as rhetoric-free, but rather shows that rhetoric is an integral part of the practice of philosophy.

Three Dialogues is a collection of three Socratic dialogues by the philosopher Plato: Protagoras, Philebus, and Gorgias. Protagoras is an argument between the elderly and celebrated sophist Protagoras and Socrates about the nature of sophists and virtue. Philebus, written between 360 and 347 BC and one of the last Socratic dialogues, features Socrates (rare for a late dialogue), Philebus, and Protarchus. It centers on the value of pleasure versus knowledge, and focuses in the end on the inherent value of philosophy and reason over drama and poetry: a wholly philosophical idea. Finally, Gorgias is an argument between a philosopher and rhetorician, emphasizing the art of persuasion as necessary for gaining legal and political advantages. All three dialogues are also available in the Cosimo omnibus editions of The Works of Plato. One of the greatest Western philosophers who ever lived, PLATO (c. 428-347 B.C.) was a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. Plato was greatly influenced by Socrates' teachings, often using him as a character in scripts and plays (Socratic dialogues), which he used to demonstrate philosophical ideas. Plato's dialogues were and still are used to teach a wide range of subjects, including politics, mathematics, rhetoric, logic, and, naturally, philosophy.

Rich in drama and humour, they include the controversial Ion, a debate on poetic inspiration; Laches, in which Socrates seeks to define bravery; and Euthydemus, which considers the relationship between philosophy and politics. Together, these dialogues provide a definitive portrait of the real Socrates and raise issues still keenly debated by philosophers, forming an incisive overview of Plato's philosophy.

This book consists of a selection of papers which throw new light on old problems in one of Plato's most difficult dialogues. The papers included fall into three broad categories: a) those dealing directly with the ostensible aim of the dialogue, the various definitions of a sophist from different perspectives (T. Robinson, F. Casadesús, J. Monserrat-P. Sandoval, A. Bernabé, M. Narcy and K. Dorter ; b) a number which tackle a specific question brought up in the dialogue, and that is, how Plato relates to Heraclitus and to Parmenides in the matter of his understanding of being and non-being (E. Hülsz, D. O'Brien, B. Bossi, P. Mesquita and N. Cordero) ; and c) those discussing various other broad issues brought to the fore in the dialogue, such as the 'greatest kinds', true and false statement, difference and mimesis (F. Fronterotta, J. de Garay, D. Ambuel and L. Palumbo).The variety of schools and backgrounds of the authors makes this book unique as a tool for the appreciation of the different approaches possible to well-known hermeneutical problems.

"Sophist" is one of Plato's dialogues, believed to have been written in the middle period of his philosophical career, around 380 BCE. In this dialogue, Plato explores the nature of sophistry, the art of persuasion, and the distinction between true knowledge and mere opinion. The dialogue takes place between Socrates and several interlocutors, including a Visitor from Elea and a young philosopher named Theaetetus. The conversation revolves around the question of whether or not it is possible to define what a sophist is, and if so, how to distinguish between sophists and philosophers. The central theme of "Sophist" is the examination of the nature of reality and the challenge of distinguishing between appearance and reality. The characters engage in a dialectical inquiry, attempting to define the essence of sophistry and to differentiate it from genuine philosophical inquiry. Plato uses the dialogue form to present various arguments and counterarguments, illustrating the Socratic method of inquiry and philosophical investigation. Through logical analysis and rigorous questioning, Socrates and his interlocutors explore the complexities of language, knowledge, and ontology. Overall, "Sophist" is a profound philosophical work that delves into fundamental questions about truth, knowledge, and the nature of reality. It is a challenging and thought-provoking dialogue that continues to stimulate scholarly debate and philosophical inquiry to this day.