Quote:
"Because he has spent so much of his life in elenctic
argument, we are sometimes tempted to infer that Socrates
knows more than he is letting on about the subject matter
at hand."
By chance I'm just reading (
Plato)
Socrates (in English) because those are interesting conversations even the simpler mind can follow.
After reading Charmides, Lysis and Laches, I had second thoughts on the great philosopher. Must admit he was beginning to
irritate me because he always refutes his own line of thought, systematically throwing away the agreement that has been reached at that point.
I thought: Maybe they wanted to condemn him mainly because he was always so right and so good, just like Jesus (
keeping religion on the side) was (
I think) hated mainly because they thought him too good to be true.
And teaching (preaching) the virtuous life that so many powerful men could and would not possibly lead must have made the both of them many enemies.
I came to
Apology and
Crito. I'm fascinated by his defence and I see that from here on it will be about how he chooses to die. I never knew that Plato, besides being the philosopher, was also a sort of journalist.
Socrates: Let us consider the matter together, and do you either refute me if you can, and I will be convinced; or else cease, my dear friend, from repeating to me that I ought to escape against the wishes of the Athenians.