Why Plato Lost Interest in the Socratic Method

Download or read book Why Plato Lost Interest in the Socratic Method written by Gareth B. Matthews and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-11-07 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Socratic method of questioning and refutation (elenchus) predominates the early Platonic dialogues. But things change in the middle dialogues, as Socrates goes beyond merely asking questions and begins to provide answers to his questions. And the method virtually disappears in the late dialogues. The standard explanation of this phenomenon is that the early dialogues were intended to commemorate Socrates and the elenchus, while in the middle and late dialogues Plato went beyond Socrates to present his own mature philosophical thought. In this book, Matthews revises this explanation by uncovering the shortcomings that Plato came to find in the Socratic method and the reasons why Plato lost interest in it.