Socrates by W. C. W. Taylor

Author:W. C. W. Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192572943
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2019-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

Ethics

The search for definitions, then, is the search for expertise, and the possessor of expertise possesses a theory of the subject matter of that expertise, a grasp of its nature which delivers answers to further questions, both theoretical and practical, about it. In the dialogues discussed in the previous section we see Socrates searching for such a theory applied to human goodness, in some cases a theory of one of the constituents of goodness, that is, an individual virtue (piety in Euthyphro, courage in Laches, and self-control in Charmides), in others (Meno, Protagoras) a theory of goodness as a whole. In all of these the search is, at least ostensibly, unsuccessful, in that each dialogue ends with the acknowledgement by Socrates and his interlocutors that they have not arrived at the account of goodness or of its parts which they were seeking. But there are some discernible differences. In the three dialogues dealing with individual virtues the discussion is more tentative, Socrates is not readily identified with any positive position, and it is at least plausible to accept the final impasse at its face value. In Meno and Protagoras, on the other hand, Socrates argues firmly for the thesis that virtue is knowledge, and it is plausible to think that the ostensibly aporetic conclusions are to be interpreted as not detracting from his commitment to that thesis. In these dialogues, it seems to me, Plato depicts Socrates not indeed as possessing the fully developed theory of goodness which is his goal but at least as having a grasp of its general shape. There is, then, even within the dialogues of definition, a development in the portrayal of Socrates from that of the purely critical searcher to the proponent of theory (though not expert in the fullest sense). It is an open question whether this development is one within Plato’s perception of the historical Socrates, or the first stage of a development from that perception to a presentation containing more of his own views.

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