JOHN CARVALHO THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCRATES PHI 7110:001 SPRING 2003 OBJECTIVES There is a calculated irony to this course. It is not clear, of course, that Socrates had a philosophy. By most accounts he never professed one. In fact, who Socrates was, how the historical figure is related to the persona represented by Aristophanes, Aeschines, Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle, is the subject of considerable debate. In the last twenty-five years, the debate has intensified to include questions about Socrates’s method, if he had one, and about how the figure in the “early” dialogues of Plato, represents a view that can be distinguished from the theories of his most famous student. In this seminar, we will study Plato’s Alcibiades (I and II), Apology, Charmides, Crito, Euthydemus, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Hippias Minor, Ion, Laches, Lysis, Meno, Protagoras, and Republic I. We will draw extensively from recent commentary to examine the relation of the historical to the literary Socrates, the order of the dialogues, the differences between Socrates and Plato, Socrates’s method, the theory and priority of definition, the unity of virtue, Socratic irony, the refutation of the lex taliones, the definition of piety, the justification of true belief, and the trial and death of Socrates. PROCEDURE This is a graduate seminar. There will be no special arrangements to formalize students participation. Everyone who attends the seminar meetings will be expected to participate in the discussions scheduled for each meeting. TEXTS Plato, Complete Works, ed. John Cooper (Hackett 1997). Benson, ed., Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates (Oxford 1992). Nehamas, The Art of Living (California 1998). Nehamas, Virtues of Authenticity (Princeton 1999). Scott, ed., Does Socrates Have a Method? (Penn State 2002). Vlastos, The Philosophy of Socrates (Anchor 1971). Vlastos, Platonic Studies (Princeton 1981). Vlastos, Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher (Cornell 1991). Vlastos, Socratic Studies (Cambridge 1994). See the bibliographies in Benson and Scott for comprehensive lists of articles on the philosophy of Socrates. REQUIREMENTS One 20 page research paper. THE DIALOGUES Alcibiades I and II, Apology, Charmides, Crito, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Hippias Minor, Ion, Laches, Menexus, Protagoras Euthydemus, Hippias Major, Lysis, Meno Cratylus, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic I, Symposium Critias, Laws, Parmenides, Philebus, Politicus, Sophist, Theatetus, Timaeus TOPICS 1. The Paradox of Socrates 2. The Historical Socrates and the Socrates of the Dialogues 3. Definition 4. The Disavowal of Knowledge 5. The Socratic Fallacy 6. Irony 7. Socratic Method: the Elenchus 8. Does Socrates have a Method? 9. Elechus and Mathematics 10. The Unity of Virtue 11. Piety 12. Socrates and the State 13. Socrates as Teacher 14. Philosophy as a Way of Life: Socrates, Nietzsche, Foucault READINGS 1. Vlastos, “The Paradox of Socrates” (1971) Vlastos, “Additional Note 1.1" (1994) 2. Vlastos, “Socrates contra Socrates in Plato,” “The Evidence in Aristotle and Xenophon” (1991) Lacey, “Our Knowledge of Socrates” (1971) Dover, “Socrates in the Clouds” (1971) Kahn, “Did Plato Write Socratic Dialogues?” (Benson) 3. Robinson, “Socratic Definition” (1971) Vlastos, “What Did Socrates Understand by His ‘What is F?’ Question?” (1981) Benson, Misunderstanding the ‘What is F-ness?’ Question” (Benson) 4. Valstos, “Socrates’ Disavowal of Knowledge” (1994) Woodruff, “Plato’s Early Theory of Knowledge” (Benson) 5. Geach, “Plato’s Euthyphro,” Monist 50:369-82 (1966) Beversluis, “Does Socrates Commit the Socratic Fallacy?’ (Benson) Vlastos, “Is the ‘Socratic Fallacy’ Socratic?” (1994) Vlastos, “Does Socrates Cheat?” (1991) 6. Vlastos, “Socratic Irony” (1991) Nehamas, Voices of Silence: On Gregory Vlastos’ Socrates” (Nehamas 1999) Nehamas, “Platonic Irony: Author and Audience,” Socratic Irony: Character and Interlocutor,” “Socratic Irony: Character and Author” (all Nehamas 1998) 7. Robinson, “Elenchus,” “Elenchus: Direct and Indirect” (1971 Vlastos, “The Socratic Elenchus,” “Postscript to ‘The Socratic Elenchus’” (1994) 8. Kraut, “Comments on Gregory Vlastos’ ‘The Socratic Elenchus’,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 1:59-70 (1983) Benson, “Problems with Socratic Method” (Scott) Brickhouse and Smith, “The Socratic Elenchus?” (Scott) Carpenter and Polansky, “Variety of Socratic Elenchi” (Scott) Carvalho, “Certainty and Consistency in the Socratic Elenchus” (Scott) 9. Vlastos, “Elenchus and Mathematics” (1991) 10. Santas, “Socrates at Work on Virtue and Knowledge in Plato’s Laches,” “Plato’s Protagoras and Explanations of Weakness” (1971) Penner, “The Unity of Virtue” (Benson) Vlastos, “The Unity of Virtues in the Protagoras” (1981) Vlastos, “Happiness and Virtue in Socrates’ Moral Theory” (1991) Vlastos, “The Protagoras and the Laches” (1994) READINGS (cont.) 11. Cohen, “Socrates on the Definition of Piety: Euthyphro 10a-11b” (1971) Vlastos, “Socratic Piety” (1991) McPherran, “Socratic Piety in the Euthyphro” (Benson) 12. Brickhouse and Smith, “The Formal Charges Against Socrates” (Benson) Kraut, Socrates and the State (Princeton 1984) Vlastos, “The Historical Socrates and the Athenian Democracy” (1994) Woozley, “Socrates on Disobeying the Law” (1971) 13. Nehamas, “Meno’s Paradox and Socrates as Teacher,” “What did Socrates Teach and to Whom did He Teach It?” (Nehamas 1999) Scott, Plato’s Socrates as Educator (SUNY 2000) 14. Nehamas, “A Reason for Socrates’ Face: Nietzsche on ‘The Problem of Socrates’,” “A Fate for Socrates’ Reason: Foucault on the Care of the Self” (Nehamas 1998) Foucault, The Use of Pleasure, vol. 2 of The History of Sexuality, trans. Robert Hurley (Random House 1985)