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The Charmides (ancient Greek Χαρμίδης) is a dialogue of Plato, in which Socrates engages a handsome and popular boy in a conversation about the meaning of sophrosune, a Greek word usually translated into English as "temperance", "self-control", or "restraint". As is typical with Platonic dialogues, the two never arrive at a completely satisfactory definition, but the discussion nevertheless raises many important points. Image File history File links Plato-raphael. ...
(The) Apology (of Socrates) is Platos version of the speech given by Socrates as he defends himself against the charges of being a man who corrupted the young, did not believe in the gods, and created new deities. Apology here has its earlier meaning (now usually expressed by the...
The Crito (IPA [kriËtÉ”Ën]; in English usually [ˈkɹiËtɘʊË]) is a short but important dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato. ...
Euthyphro is one of Platos early dialogues, dated to after 399 BC. Shortly before the Greek philosopher Socrates is due to appear in court, he encounters a man, Euthyphro, who has gained the reputation of being a religious expert. ...
The First Alcibiades or Alcibiades I is a dialogue featuring Alcibiades in conversation with Socrates, ascribed to Plato, but his authorship is doubtful, though probably written by someone within a century or two of Platos other works. ...
Hippias Major (or What is Beauty) is one of the dialogues of Plato. ...
Hippias Minor (or On Lying) is one of Platos early dialogues, written while the author was still young, although the exact date has not been established. ...
Platos Ion aims to give an account of poetry in dialogue form. ...
Laches, also known as Courage, is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato, and concerns the topic of courage. ...
Lysis is one of the socratic dialogues written by Plato and discusses the nature of friendship. ...
Cratylus (ΚÏατυλος) is the name of a dialogue by Plato, written in approximately 360 BC. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to advise them whether names are conventional or natural, that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an...
Euthydemus (Euthydemos), written 380 BCE, is dialogue by Plato which satirizes the logical fallacies of the Sophists. ...
Gorgias is an important dialogue in which Plato sets the rhetorician, whose specialty is persuasion, in opposition to the philosopher, whose specialty is dissuasion, or refutation. ...
The Menexenus (Greek: ΜενÎξενоς) is a Socratic dialogue of Plato, traditionally included in the seventh tetralogy along with the Greater and Lesser Hippias and the Ion. ...
Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. ...
Platos Phaedo (IPA: , Greek: Φαίδων, Phaidon) is one of the great dialogues of his middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. ...
Protagoras is the title of one of Platos dialogues. ...
The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC. It is a discussion on the nature of love, taking the form of a series of speeches, both satirical and serious, given by a group of men at a symposium or drinking party at the house of...
The Republic (Greek: ) is a Socratic dialogue by Plato, written approximately 360 BC. It is an influential work of philosophy and political theory, and perhaps Platos best known work. ...
The Phaedrus, written by Plato, is a dialogue between Platos main protagonist, Socrates, and Phaedrus, an interlocutor in several dialogues. ...
Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. ...
The Theætetus (Θεαίτητος) is one of Platos dialogues concerning the nature of knowledge. ...
Timaeus (Greek: Τίμαιος, Timaios) is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written circa 360 BC. The work puts forward speculation on the nature of the physical world. ...
Critias, a dialogue of Platos, speaks about a variety of subjects. ...
The Sophist (Greek: Σοφιστής) is one of the late Dialogues of Plato, which was written much more lately than the Parmenides and the Theaetetus, probably in 360 BC.After he criticized his own Theory of Forms in the Parmenides, Plato proceeds in the Sophist with a new conception of the Forms...
The Statesman, or Politikos in Greek and Politicus in Latin, is a four part dialogue contained within the work of Plato. ...
Philebus is among the last of the late Socratic dialogues of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. ...
The Laws is Platos last and longest dialogue. ...
The Clitophon, a dialogue generally ascribed to Plato, is significant for focusing on Socrates role as an exhorter of other people to engage in philosophic inquiry. ...
The Epinomis is a dialogue in the style of Plato, but today considered spurious by most scholars. ...
The Epistles of Plato are a series of thirteen letters traditionally included in the Platonic corpus. ...
The Hipparchus is a dialogue attributed to the classical Greek philosopher and writer Plato. ...
Minos is one of the dialogues of Plato, featuring Socrates and a Companion. ...
Rival Lovers (Greek: ) is a Socratic dialogue included in the traditional corpus of Platos works, though its authenticity has been doubted. ...
The Second Alcibiades or Alcibiades II is a dialogue ascribed to Plato, featring Alcibiades conversing with Socrates, but there is a general consensus amongst scholars that this text is spurious, though again probably written by someone within a century or two of Platos other works. ...
Theages is one of the dialogues of Plato, featuring Demodocus, Socrates and Theages. ...
Greek ( IPA: or simply IPA: — Hellenic) has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any single language in the Indo-European language family. ...
For other uses, see Dialogue (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ...
The setting Socrates narrates the dialog, and says that he has just escaped from a battle at Potidaea, a comment that recalls Alcibiades comment in the Symposium, that Socrates escaped the battle at Delium with the general Laches (Symp. 221a). Socrates says that, shortly after the fighting began, he slipped back to his old haunts at the palaestra of Taureas where the boys gather. With the help of Chaerephon, he found his way to the side of Critias, and asked him about the present state of philosophy, and who among the boys was gaining in wisdom or beauty, or both. Critias says that Charmides is the boy of the moment, almost a young man. Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (Greek: ; English /ælsɪbaɪədi:z/; 450 BC–404 BC), also transliterated as Alkibiades, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. ...
Symposium originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means to drink together) but has since come to refer to any academic conference, whether or not drinking takes place. ...
In law, laches is an equitable defense accusing an opposing party of having sat on his rights; as a result of this delay, the delaying party is undeserving of equitable relief. ...
Critias tells Socrates that Charmides is his cousin, son of his uncle Glaucon, and just then Charmides enters the scene and causes huge consternation in the crowd. Chaerephon rushes over and asks Socrates if the boy is not beautiful, and Socrates agrees. Chaerephon says suggestively that if Socrates could see his naked form, he would forget all about his handsome face. Socrates says all this will be good and well if the boy also has a noble soul. Socrates tells Critias that before they look at his body, they will ask the boy to strip and show them his soul. Glaucon (bef. ...
The struggle to define Socrates tells Critias that there would be no shame in his just talking to the beautiful and popular boy, even if he were younger than he is. Socrates informs the reader that Critias is the child's guardian or caretaker ("epitrophos"), a kind of parent surrogate, or in English, "babysitter" (155a). Critias agrees and tells an attendant to tell Charmides to come and see the physician ("iatros") about an illness that Charmides has complained about. Critias suggests that Socrates pretend to know a cure for a headache to lure the boy over.
Charmides first suggests that sophrosne is a kind of quietness (159b). Socrates talks him out of this, and Charmides proposes that sophrosne is the same as modesty. Socrates says this can't be right because Homer doesn't think so (160e). Charmides proposes that temperance is minding your own business. Socrates finds this particularly offensive, and tells Charmides that he must have heard this from some fool (162b). Socrates can tell from the uneasy look on Critias face that this was his idea, and they exchange some words. Socrates says to him testily that at his age, Charmides can hardly be expected to understand temperance (162e). At this point in the argument, Critias takes up the argument with Socrates suggesting that temperance might be the same as self-knowledge. Socrates confesses as they discuss this that his motive in refuting Critias is to examine himself, that he pursues the argument for his own sake (166c,d).
Critias' suggestion that sophrosne is self-knowledge spurs Socrates to a discussion of the relation between medicine and science. He says that medicine is the science of health and disease, and that a person who does not understand these things is not in a position to judge a real physician from a quack (171c). He says that if wisdom really is knowing what you know and knowing what you don't know, no one would ever make a mistake, and we would pass through life unerring. He concludes that this does not happen, and that science is impossible.
Socrates say he dreams, however, of a world in which no one pretends to be something he is not (173a-d). In the end, Socrates appears to have recruited a new disciple to philosophy: Charmides says he is willing to be charmed everyday by Socrates, and Critias tells the boy that if he is willing to do this, he will have proof of his temperance. Charmides says that if his guardian instructs him to submit to Socrates' charms, then he would be wrong not to do it.
Rhetorical strategy | | This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007) | Plato uses an important rhetorical device, the parallel analogy, to make his point that Socrates is a quack "doctor to the soul" ("psyche-iatros"). Socrates pretends to be a quack doctor ("iatros") who can cure a headache, and then performs a bait and switch on the child: he tells Charmides that before his body can be cured, his spirit must be cured of its own "disease", which is ignorance. A completely ignorant man, Socrates can no more cure the child of his ignorance than he can cure his headache. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ...
Analogy is both the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. ...
Socrates' analogy, that ignorance is to the philosopher what disease is to the physician, is important and persistent in the dialogues. And everywhere, Socrates fails to effect a cure. In the Protagoras, for example, when the sophist Prodicus accuses Socrates of making a mess of their discussion, Socrates accepts the complaint and calls himself a laughable doctor ("geloios iatros"), whose treatment not only does not cure the disease, it worsens it (Protagoras 340e). Protagoras (in Greek Î ÏωταγόÏας) was born around 481 BC in Abdera, Thrace in Ancient Greece. ...
A variation on the medical theme is in the Theaetetus, where Socrates become a female doctor. Socrates compares himself to a midwife who helps boys and men give birth to their ideas. He says there that he (never having conceived of a viable idea himself) is barren, and has frequently had to commit the intellectual equivalent of infanticide (Theaetetus 160e). Theaetetus ( 417 B.C. – 369 B.C.) was a Greek mathematician of Geometry. ...
Translations - Benjamin Jowett, 1870: full text
- Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb, 1927: full text
- Rosamond Kent Sprague, 1973
- Thomas G. West and Grace Starry West, 1986
Benjamin Jowett (April 15, 1817 – October 1, 1893) was an English scholar and theologian, Master of Balliol College, Oxford. ...
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