Socratic dialogue
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Socratic dialogue(Ancient Greek:Σωκρατικὸς λόγος) is a genre ofliteraryprosedeveloped inGreeceat the turn of the fourth century BC. The earliest ones are preserved in the works ofPlatoandXenophonand all involveSocratesas theprotagonist.These dialogues, and subsequent ones in the genre, present a discussion of moral and philosophical problems between two or more individuals illustrating the application of theSocratic method.The dialogues may be either dramatic or narrative. While Socrates is often the main participant, his presence in the dialogue is not essential to the genre.
Platonic dialogues
[edit]Most of the Socratic dialogues referred to today are those ofPlato.Platonic dialoguesdefined the literary genre subsequent philosophers used. Plato wrote approximately 35 dialogues, in most of which Socrates is the main character.
The protagonist of each dialogue, both in Plato's andXenophon'swork, usually isSocrateswho by means of a kind of interrogation tries to find out more about the other person's understanding of moral issues. In the dialogues Socrates presents himself as a simple man who confesses that he has little knowledge. With this ironic approach he manages to confuse the other who boasts that he is an expert in the domain they discuss. The outcome of the dialogue is that Socrates demonstrates that the other person's views are inconsistent. In this way Socrates tries to show the way to real wisdom. One of his most famous statements in that regard is "The unexamined life is not worth living." This philosophical questioning is known as theSocratic method.
Strictly speaking, the termSocratic dialoguerefers to works in whichSocratesis a character. As a genre, however, other texts are included;Plato'sLawsandXenophon'sHieroare Socratic dialogues in which a wise man other than Socrates leads the discussion (the Athenian Stranger andSimonides,respectively). In some dialogues, Plato's main character is not Socrates but someone from outside ofAthens.In Xenophon'sHieroa certainSimonidesplays this role when Socrates is not the protagonist.
Generally, the works which are most often assigned to Plato's early years are all considered to be Socratic dialogues (written from 399 to 387). Many of his middle dialogues (written from 387 to 361, after the establishment of hisAcademy), and later dialogues (written in the period between 361 and his death in 347) incorporate Socrates' character and are often included here as well.[1]However, this interpretation of the corpus is not universally accepted.[2]The time that Plato began to write his works and the date of composition of his last work are not known and what adds to the complexity is that even the ancient sources do not know the order of the works or the dialogues.[3]
The complete list of the thirty-five Platonic dialogues that have been traditionally identified as authentic, as given inDiogenes Laërtius,[4]is included below in alphabetical order. The authenticity of some of these dialogues has been questioned by some modern scholarship.[5]
- First Alcibiades
- Second Alcibiades
- Apology
- Charmides
- Clitophon
- Cratylus
- Critias
- Crito
- Epinomis
- Euthydemus
- Euthyphro
- Gorgias
- Hipparchus
- Hippias Major
- Hippias Minor
- Ion
- Laches
- Laws
- Lysis
- Menexenus
- Meno
- Minos
- Parmenides
- Protagoras
- Phaedo
- Phaedrus
- Philebus
- Republic
- Rival Lovers
- Sophist
- Statesman
- Symposium
- Theaetetus
- Theages
- Timaeus
Other ancient authors
[edit]Authors of extant dialogues
[edit]- Athenaeus,author ofDeipnosophistae
- Cicero,author of several dialogues, includingDe re publica,De finibus bonorum et malorum,Tusculanae Disputationes,De Natura Deorum,De Divinatione,De fato,Academica,and the now-lostHortensius.
- Xenophon,author of several dialogues, includingApology,Memorabilia,Oeconomicus,andSymposium
Authors whose dialogues are lost
[edit]- Simon the Shoemaker– According toDiogenes Laërtiushe was the first author of a Socratic dialogue.[6]
- Alexamenus of Teos– According to a fragment ofAristotle,he was the first author of a Socratic dialogue, but we do not know anything else about him, whether Socrates appeared in his works, or how accurate Aristotle was in his antagonistic judgement about him.
- Aeschines of Sphettos
- Antisthenes
- Aristippus[7]
- Aristotle
- Phaedo of Elis
- Euclid of Megara
- Favorinus
Medieval and early modern dialogues
[edit]Socratic dialogue remained a popular format for expressing arguments and drawing literary portraits of those who espouse them. Some of these dialogues employ Socrates as a character, but most simply employ the philosophical style similar to Plato while substituting a different character to lead the discussion.
- Boethius
- Boethius' most famous bookThe Consolation of Philosophyis a Socratic dialogue in which Lady Philosophy interrogates Boethius.
- St. Augustine
- St. Augustine'sConfessionshas been called a Socratic dialogue between St. Augustine the author and St. Augustine the narrator.[8]
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Anselm'sCur Deus Homois a Socratic dialogue between Anselm and a monk named Boso.
- Galileo Galilei
- Galilei'sDialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systemscompares the Copernican model of the universe with the Aristotelian.
- Matteo Ricci
- Ricci'sThe True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven( thiên chủ thật nghĩa ) is a Socratic dialogue between Ricci and a Chinese scholar, where Ricci argues thatChristianityandConfucianismare not opposed to each other.
- Johann Joseph Fux
- Gradus ad Parnassum(1725), a non-Socratic dialogue onspecies counterpoint.The conversation is between Aloysius, who represents the compositional style ofPalestrina,and his student, Josephus.
- George Berkeley
- Berkeley'sThree Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonousis a Socratic dialogue between two university students named Philonous and Hylas, where Philonous tries to convince Hylas that idealism makes more sense than materialism.
- David Hume
- Hume'sDialogues Concerning Natural Religionis a Socratic dialogue in which three philosophers discuss arguments for the existence of God.
Modern dialogues
[edit]- Imre Lakatos
- Proofs and Refutationsis a 1976 book on the logic of discovery and progress in mathematics. It is written as a series of Socratic dialogues between a group of students who debate the proof of theEuler characteristicfor thepolyhedron.
- Owen Barfield
- Barfield'sWorldsis a dialogue in the Socratic tradition analyzing the problem of specialization in modern society and universities.[9]
- André Gide
- Gide'sCorydonis a series of 4 Socratic dialogues which aims to convince the reader of the normality and utility ofhomosexualityin society.[10]
- Jane Jacobs
- Systems of Survivalis a dialogue about two fundamental and distinct ethical systems (or syndromes as she calls them): that of the Guardian and that of Commerce. She argues that these supply direction for the conduct of human life within societies, and understanding the tension between them can help us with public policy and personal choices.[11]
- Peter Kreeft
- This academicphilosopherhas published a series of Socratic dialogues in which Socrates questions famous thinkers from the distant and near past. The first of the series wasBetween Heaven and Hell,a dialogue betweenC. S. Lewis,Aldous Huxley,andJohn F. Kennedy.[12]He also authored a book of Socratic logic.[13]
- Keith Buhler
- Buhler is an academicphilosopherwho published a Socratic dialogue in whichSeraphim Roseplays the socratic questioner. He dialogues with a group of theology students on the Protestant doctrine ofSola Scriptura.[14]
- Gerd Achenbachand philosophical counseling
- Achenbach has refreshed the socratic tradition with his own blend ofphilosophical counseling,as hasMichel Weberwith hisChromatiques Centerin Belgium.
- Ian Thomas Malone
- Malone has published a series of contemporary Socratic dialogues titledFive College Dialogues.[15]Five College Dialoguesis intended to be a comedic resource for college students with a graduate student named "George Tecce" taking the role of Socrates.
- Robin SkynnerandJohn Cleese
- In the 1980s and 1990s a British psychologist and the well-known comedian collaborated on two books,Families and How to Survive Them(1984) andLife and How to Survive It(1993), in which they take the Socratic dialogue approach to questions of families and life.[16][17]
- David Lewisand Stephanie Lewis
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^Plato & Socrates, The Relationship Between Socrates and Plato,www.umkc.edu
- ^Smith, Nicholas; Brickhouse, Thomas (2002).The Trial and Execution of Socrates: Sources and Controversies.New York: Oxford University press. p.24.ISBN9780195119800.
- ^Fine, Gail (2011).The Oxford handbook of Plato.Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 76, 77.ISBN978-0199769193.
- ^"Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book III, Plato (427–347 B.C.)".www.perseus.tufts.edu.
- ^Pangle, Thomas L. (1987).The Roots of Political Philosophy: Ten Forgotten Socratic Dialogues.Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 1–20.ISBN0801419867.
- ^Diogenes Laërtius,Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers,ii.123
- ^Diogenes LaertiusLives of the Eminent PhilosophersBook II Chapter 8 Section 83http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D8
- ^McMahon, Robert."Augustine's Confessions and Voegelin's Philosophy".First Things. Archived fromthe originalon 22 March 2014.Retrieved5 December2012.
- ^Barfield, Owen.Worlds Apart.
- ^Gide, Andre (1950).Corydon.
- ^Mulhern, Francis J. (1995)."Review of Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics".Journal of Marketing.59(1): 110–112.doi:10.2307/1252020.ISSN0022-2429.JSTOR1252020.
- ^Kreeft, Peter.Between Heaven and Hell.
- ^Kreeft, Peter.Socratic Logic: A Logic Text using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles.
- ^Buhler, Keith (10 June 2012).Sola Scriptura: A Dialogue.CreateSpace Independent Publishing.ISBN978-1475270860.
- ^Malone, Ian Thomas (25 August 2014).Five College Dialogues.TouchPoint Press.ISBN978-0692281451.
- ^Sullivan, Jane (2 November 2018)."Turning Pages: the Literary Life of Monty Python".The Sydney Morning Herald.Retrieved6 May2019.
- ^Skynner, Robin. "Life and how to survive it".RSA JournalVol. 141, No. 5440 (June 1993), pp. 461–471
- ^Lewis, David K. '[1]'.Australasian Journal of Philosophy,48(2). (1970).
References
[edit]- Jowett, B.(1892).The Dialogues of Plato translated into English with Analyses and Introductions by B. Jowett, M.A. in Five Volumes.3rd ed. revised and corrected. (Oxford University Press), viaLiberty Fund