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Article
Look Who Is Talking Now: Plato or Socrates?
Author(s)
Yvonne Ying-Ya Wen
Full-Text PDF
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2018.03.018
Affiliation(s)
University of Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan; National Formosa University, Yunlin, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
In the introduction Lamb (1924a) wrote for his translation of Plato’s dialogues, he, knowingly or unknowingly, moves from the discussion of Plato the author to Socrates the character in Plato’s dramatic depictions, revealing the entangling relationship between the two in the representations of the master by his disciple. In such cases, it takes more effort than usual to figure out whom the pronoun “he” stands for in this introduction. This example is just a tip of the iceberg of this phenomenon which does have an influence on the study of Plato’s works. The names of Plato and Socrates are interchangeable in most titles where the ethics of Plato is taken for that of Socrates or vice versa. This paper examines the difficulties that arise as a result and brings up four alternatives as possible perspectives from which one may look at the same issues.
KEYWORDS
Plato, Socrates, education in philosophy, philosophical method, literary style
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References
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Vlastos, G. (2000). The Socratic Elenchus. In G. Fine (Ed.), Plato (pp. 38-65). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Weiss, R. (2006). Socrates: Seeker or preacher? In S. Ahbel-Rapper and R. Kamtekar (Eds.), A companion to Socrates (pp. 243-253). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
White, N. (2006). Plato’s concept of goodness. In H. H. Benson (Ed.), A companion to Plato (pp. 356-372). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
White, N. (2013). Plato’s ethics. In R. Crisp (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the history of ethics (pp. 21-43). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brickhouse, T. C., & Smith, N. D. (2003). Socrates. In C. Shields (Ed.), The Blackwell guide to ancient philosophy (pp. 55-69). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Brickhouse, T. C., & Smith, N. D. (2010). Socratic moral psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cain, R. B. (2007). The Socratic method: Plato’s use of philosophical drama. NY: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Cooper, J. M. (1999). Reason and emotion: Essays on ancient moral psychology and ethical theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Corlett, J. A. (2005). Interpreting Plato’s dialogues. Las Vegas: Parmenides Pub.
Fine, G. (2000). Introduction [Part 2 Ethics, politics, religion, and the soul.]. In G. Fine (Ed.), Plato (pp. 483-515). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frede, M. (1996). The literary form of the Sophist. In C. Gill and M. M. McCabe (Eds.), Form and argument in late Plato (pp. 135-51). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Frede. D. (2013). The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved on Sept. 20, 2017, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics/
Friedlander, P. (1969). Plato (H. Meyerhoff, Trans.) (2nd ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gadamer, H.-G. (1986). The idea of the good in Platonic-Aristotelian philosophy (P. C. Smith, Trans.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Gill, C. (1993). Platonic dialectic and the truth-status of the unwritten doctrines. Methexis, 6, 55-72.
Gill, C. (1995). Greek thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gill, C. (2006). The Platonic dialogue. In M. L. Gill and P. Pellegrin (Eds.), A companion to ancient philosophy (pp. 136-150). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Hare, R. M. (1999a). Understanding Plato. Greek Philosophers (pp. 133-138). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hare, R. M. (1999b). Definition, dialectic and the good. Greek Philosophers (pp. 148-157). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hyslop, J. H. (1903). The ethics of the Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. NY: Charles M. Higgins & Co.
Irwin, T. (1977). Plato’s moral theory: The early and middle dialogues. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Irwin, T. (2003). Glaucon’s challenge: Does Aristotle change his mind? In R. Heinamen (Ed.), Plato and Aristotle’s ethics (pp. 87-108). Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company.
Irwin, T. (Ed.). (1999). Classical philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lamb, W. R. M. (1924a). General introduction. Plato: Laches, Protagoras, Meno, & Euthydemus (pp. vii-xvii) (W. R. M. Lamb, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lamb, W. R. M. (1924b). Introduction to the Euthydemus. Plato: Laches, Protagoras, Meno, & Euthydemus (pp. 375-377) (W. R. M. Lamb, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Morrison, D. R. (2006) .Socrates. In M. L. Gill and P. Pellegrin (Eds.), A companion to ancient philosophy (pp. 101-118). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Penner, T. (1992). Socrates and the early dialogues. In R. Kraut (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Plato (pp. 121-169). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Penner, T. (2006). Plato’s ethics: Early and middle dialogues. In M. L. Gill and P. Pellegrin (Eds.), A companion to ancient philosophy (pp. 151-169). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Plato. (1775). Plato’s Apology of Socrates (J. Mills, Trans.). Cambridge: J. Archdeacon.
Plato. (1924). Plato: Laches, Protagoras, Meno, & Euthydemus. (W. R. M. Lamb, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Plato. (1992). The Republic. (G. M. A. Grube, Trans.) (2nd ed.). Revised by C. D. C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
Plato. (1994). Gorgias. (R. Waterfield, Trans.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Plato. (1998). Plato’s Apology of Socrates (T. G. West & G. S. West, Trans.). Four texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito and Aristophanes’ Clouds (pp. 63-97) (Revised, ed.). Ithaca: Cornwell University Press.
Plato. (2001). Gorgias (R. Waterfield, Trans.). In J. Annas (Ed.), Voices of ancient philosophy (pp. 305-319). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rowe, C. J. (1984). Plato. Brighton, Sussex, UK: Harvester Press.
Rudebusch, G. (2009). Puzzling pedagogy. Socrates (pp. 88-100). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Smith, A. M. (1999). Order and happiness in Plato (Master’s Thesis.). Chicago: Loyola University Chicago.
Szlezak, T. A. (1999). Reading Plato (G. Zanker, Trans.). London: Routledge.
Taylor, C. C. W. (1999a). Socratic literature and the Socratic problem. Greek philosophers (pp. 25-43). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, C. C. W. (1999b). Plato’s Socrates. Greek philosophers (pp. 44-75). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vlastos, G. (2000). The Socratic Elenchus. In G. Fine (Ed.), Plato (pp. 38-65). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Weiss, R. (2006). Socrates: Seeker or preacher? In S. Ahbel-Rapper and R. Kamtekar (Eds.), A companion to Socrates (pp. 243-253). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
White, N. (2006). Plato’s concept of goodness. In H. H. Benson (Ed.), A companion to Plato (pp. 356-372). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
White, N. (2013). Plato’s ethics. In R. Crisp (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the history of ethics (pp. 21-43). Oxford: Oxford University Press.