Understanding Plato’s Dialogues: Key Concepts and Ideas
Characteristics of Plato’s Dialogues
Plato’s important collection of texts are written in dialogue form, a complete novelty at the time. Most dialogues feature Socrates, though it’s debated whether he expresses his own ideas or Plato’s. Plato never speaks in the first person, avoiding direct attribution of doctrines. Socrates himself doesn’t claim wisdom or represent specific doctrines. For Plato, philosophy is an activity, not a set of theories, often presented through fictional stories or analogies.
Socratic vs. Platonic Dialogues
Two characteristics stand out: 1. The Greek idea of “know” involves understanding a specific genre of things. Plato’s dialogues investigate questions like “What is virtue/beauty/justice?” aiming for an essential definition. 2. Philosophical dialogues maintain a philosophical “distance,” exposing the underlying assumptions of our experience. This is central to Plato’s use of dialectics.
Plato’s Dialectic
Plato distinguishes between: 1. Ordinary knowledge, dealing with things using conceptual frameworks without noticing their existence. 2. Philosophical knowledge, stepping back to notice the rules governing practical knowledge.
Doxa (Opinion)
Plato calls doxa “opinion” or “appearance.” It’s the maximum knowledge we can achieve about things, as it’s how things appear to us. Doxa is sensitive knowledge. Socrates distinguishes two degrees of doxa: assumption (less reliable) and founded belief (more probable, but not definitive).
Episteme (Intellectual Knowledge)
Episteme isn’t about overcoming doxa, as doxa points to how things appear. Plato uses eidos (idea) to refer to the way things appear in experience and word.
Existence and Reminiscence
Plato develops the concept of anamnesis (reminiscence) in Meno. Socrates shows a slave “remembering” a geometrical theorem, suggesting the soul has prior knowledge. Learning is not about acquiring new knowledge, but remembering what was already known.
Division and Ideas
Plato distinguishes between “ideas” and “things.” Ideas are not separate entities, but the ideal structure underlying things. Episteme uncovers this structure. Plato identifies major genres like “same,” “other,” “rest,” and “movement,” involved in any conceptual operation.
The Problem of Good
Plato differentiates “good” from “good things.” Good is not a thing, but the rule guiding action, making it righteous. Good is evident in the proper use of things.
Ignorance, Teaching, and Dialectic
Plato distinguishes between simple ignorance and ignorance of ignorance. Simple ignorance allows learning, while ignorance of ignorance prevents it. Dialectic aims to uncover the rule guiding action (the good).
Production and Action
Socrates distinguishes between production and use. Knowing how to use something is higher knowledge (episteme) than knowing how to produce it (doxa).
Plato and the Human Soul
Plato’s Republic addresses morality and politics through the individual soul and social justice. Justice is the eidos of the city. An ideal city is guided by principles, not desires, requiring guardians with courage and strength. Philosophers, possessing knowledge of the soul’s articulation, should govern.
The Education of the Rulers
Rulers need philosophical education to acquire knowledge through dialectics. The educational system separates children from parents to learn, progressing from minor arts to mathematics and dialectics. The soul’s hierarchy mirrors the city’s, with the rational part governing the irascible and concupiscent parts.
The Expulsion of the Poets
Plato adds imitation/fiction to production and use, represented by poets and artists. He warns against poets who beautify and justify political leaders’ behaviors, distorting action into text. Poetry can be a tool of tyranny, leading to Plato’s distrust of writing.