The basic author’s assumption is that the common characteristic of the corpus of Socratic literature is its therapeutic function. Accepting this assumption means that in the interpretation of Socratic dialogues the dramatic structure of the text and the analysis of the ethical problems would be equally important. The paper elucidates Socratesʼ own explaining his role in selected dialogues of Socratic literature. Socrates repeatedly and in various situations declares himself as one who has no knowledge, and is not a teacher. Despite his disavowal of knowledge he is able to help young men to find a better way of life thanks to love he feels toward them. Socrates’ role in dialogues is a therapeutic one: He does not offer any universal solutions to the problems but rather encourages young men to take a permanent care of the self.
The paper follows from new collection of Socratic studies Socrates and the Socratic Dialogue (2018) edited by Alessandro Stavru a Christopher Moore. The author points to increased interest of scholars in re-examining Socratic philosophy, presents so-called “minor Socratics” as important figures of the Socratic movement, and reflects their significance for the study of Socrates՚ philosophy and its legacy. Final part outlines philosophical relevance of Aeschines of Sphettus.
Aeschines of Sphettus is a Socratic author that deserves more attention than he actually gets, as he is, besides Plato and Xenophon, the only Socratic who left substantial literary records. The present paper focuses on his representation of Socrates’ educational activity. Aeschines’ Socrates does not only disavow any technical capability to make the others better, but he entrusts the educational work to an unpredictable “divine dispensation” which simply means a factor that escapes the educator’s control. Not unlike Alcibiades, who is the target of Socratic educational endeavour in Aeschines’ dialogue, the author himself must have experienced in his life that achievement of virtue cannot be simply transferred from educator to educated, but requires a strong personal commitment.
A therapeutic approach to reading the Socratic literature of the 4th century B.C. is based on the assumption that Socrates appears in Socratic dialogues not only as a persistent investigator or as a paradigm of ethical behaviour, but also as a therapist. Socrates cures the souls of his loved companions. Therapeia in Plato’s Charmides is a mask which Socrates deploys to force the young Charmides to examine the excellence (aretê). At the same time therapeia is a metaphor for Socratic dialogue as an art of curing through speeches (logoi). Reading the prologue 153a-158d of Charmides as a dramatic genre the paper tries to outline the possible meaning of Socratic “speech therapy” in the context of a profound examination of excellence (aretê) as the care for the self and the others.
The paper focuses on the place of struggles, the agones, in classical drama, and how the Socratic dialogue deals with them. The first part returns to Euripides, for whom the agones are an important tool for developing the dramatic plot. The next section deals with the struggle between two brothers in Euripides’ Antiope and relates it to Plato’s Gorgias, in which the protagonists refer to Euripides’ characters. The last part asks how the agonistic changes from Euripides to Plato, and what this change means for the genre of the Socratic dialogue. The starting point of this part is Bakhtin’s study on the novel as a dialogue.
The paper presents the Socratic method and its use in the educational process at law schools in the U.S. The author is also trying to find starting points, the possibilities and limitations of using this method, concerning the shaping of students at law schools in the Slovak Republic. With the focus on previously implemented empirical research he argues that the Socratic dialogue is one of the most effective tools for training lawyers while meeting specified criteria.
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