Does Socrates Have a Method?: Rethinking the Elenchus in Plato's Dialogues and Beyond

343 Pages·2002·14.53 MB·English

by  Gary Alan Scott

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Does SOCRATES
Have a Method?
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edited by
G A R Y A L A N S C O T T
SOCRATES
Does
Have a Method?
Rethinking the
Elenchus in
Plato’s Dialogues
and Beyond
The Pennsylvania State University Press
University Park, Pennsylvania
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Does Socrates have a method? : rethinking the elenchus / edited by
Gary Alan Scott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-271-02173-x(alk. paper)
1. Socrates. 2. Methodology—History. I. Scott, Gary Alan, 1952–
b318.m48 d64 2002
183(cid:2).2—dc21 2001035790
Copyright © 2002 The Pennsylvania State University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA 16802-1003
It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper for
the first printing of all clothbound books. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the
minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48–1992.
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C O N T E N T S
Abbreviations for Plato’s Dialogues ix
Preface xi
Gary Alan Scott
Introduction 1
Gary Alan Scott
Part One: Historical Origins of Socratic Method
1 Parmenidean Elenchos 19
James H. Lesher
2 Forensic Characteristics of Socratic Argumentation 36
Hayden W. Ausland
3 Elenchosand Exetasis:Capturing the Purpose of
Socratic Interrogation 61
Harold Tarrant
4 Comments on Lesher, Ausland, and Tarrant 78
Charles M. Young
Part Two: Reexamining Vlastos’s Analysis of “the Elenchus”
5 Variety of Socratic Elenchi 89
Michelle Carpenter and Ronald M. Polansky
v
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vi Contents
6 Problems with Socratic Method 101
Hugh H. Benson
7 Elenctic Interpretation and the Delphic Oracle 114
Mark McPherran
8 The Socratic Elenchos? 145
Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith
Part Three: Socratic Argumentation and
Interrogation in Specific Dialogues
A. Clitophon, Euthydemus, Lysis, Philebus
9 The Socratic Elenchus as Constructive Protreptic 161
Francisco J. Gonzalez
10 Humbling as Upbringing: The Ethical Dimension of the
Elenchus in the Lysis 183
François Renaud
11 The (De)construction of Irrefutable Argument in
Plato’s Philebus 199
P. Christopher Smith
12 Elenchos,Protreptic, and Platonic Philosophizing 217
Lloyd P. Gerson
B. Four Interpretations of Elenchus in the Charmides
13 Socratic Dialectic in the Charmides 235
W. Thomas Schmid
14 The Elenchosin the Charmides,162–175 252
Gerald A. Press
15 Certainty and Consistency in the Socratic Elenchus 266
John M. Carvalho
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Contents vii
16 Questioning the Self: A Reaction to Carvalho, Press,
and Schmid 281
Joanne B. Waugh
About the Contributors 299
Works Cited 303
Index 319
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A B B R E V I AT I O N S
F O R
P L AT O ’ S D I A L O G U E S
Alc. i Alcibiades i(or Major) Lov. Lovers (or Rival Lovers)
Alc. ii Alcibiades ii(or Minor) Lys. Lysis
Ap. Apology of Socrates Men. Menexenus
Charm. Charmides Min. Minos
Cl. Clitophon Parm. Parmenides
Crat. Cratylus Phd. Phaedo
Crit. Critias Phdr. Phaedrus
Cri. Crito Phil. Philebus
Epi. Epinomis Pol. Statesman (or Politicus)
Euthyd. Euthydemus Prot. Protagoras
Euthyp. Euthyphro Rep. Republic
Grg. Gorgias Soph. Sophist
Hipp. Hipparchus Symp. Symposium
Hi. Ma. Hippias Major Thg. Theages
Hi. Mi. Hippias Minor Tht. Theaetetus
La. Laches Tim. Timaeus
ix