Entre as teses do socratismo presentes nos primeiros Diálogos de Platão, é sobre a tese da unidade das virtudes que recaem nossos olhares nesta presente pesquisa e, particularmente, sobre as duas teses exegéticas acerca do estatuto desta unidade, a saber: a tese da bicondicionalidade e a tese da identidade. Encontramos, no desenvolver da pesquisa, insuficiências em ambas as teses. Por meio destas insuficiências chegamos a uma hipótese interpretativa: a tese da unidade das virtudes, nos diálogos socráticos, é iluminada pelo método dialético platônico. Porém, tal afirmação pressupõe uma incompatibilidade com o método socrático presente nestes Diálogos conhecido como método elênctico: ou temos o método elênctico ou o dialético. Logo, para que a pesquisa alcance um final satisfatório, apresentamos duas soluções: 1) as duas teses clássicas da unidade das virtudes fazem parte de uma terceira fundada na dialética, a dialética implica a identidade das virtudes que implica a sua inseparabilidade e a distinção entre as partes; e 2) o método elênctico, enquanto negativo que se encaminha para uma tese positiva, é um dos componentes do método dialético. / Among the Socrates\' theses found in the first Dialogues of Plato, there is one, about the unity of the virtues, which will concern us in our present research. More specifically, we will be interested in examining two ways of explaining the unity of virtues: the bicondicionality thesis and the identity thesis. We have found shortcomings in both theses. To avoid these shortcomings we propose as an interpretative hypothesis: the unity of the virtues thesis, in the Socratic Dialogues, is explained by the dialectical Platonic method. However, this affirmation has to deal with an alleged incompatibility between the Socratic elenctic method and the properly dialectical method, as it is developed in later Dialogues. So, we present two solutions to have a satisfactory final result for this research: 1) the two classic ways of explaining the unity of the virtues are part of a distinct thesis, the one based on dialectic, for dialectic implies the identity of virtues, which implies their inseparability and the difference of their parts; and 2) the elenctic method, a negative thesis, points to a positive one, that is, to the dialectical method.

La theía moîra dans la philosophie de Platon demeure étonnamment peu étudiée au point même de souffrir d’un silence exégétique préjudiciable malgré des tentatives chez les commentateurs germaniques (Zeller), français (Souilhé, Des Places) ou encore anglo-saxons (Berry, Greene). S’illustrant tout au long de son œuvre, la theía moîra n’est ni assignable à une signification définitive, ni réductible à une traduction unique, ni associable à un champ thématique déterminé. Cette disparité s’avérant problématique et propre à susciter l’étonnement, notre travail propose un modèle interprétatif pour la theía moîra articulé autour d’une double exigence. En premier lieu, notre travail montre les insuffisances des analyses existantes de la theía moîra en insistant particulièrement sur les tendances réductrices inhérentes à ces études (approche sceptique, ironique, taxinomique, génétique ou encore anachronique). En second lieu, notre travail établit une méthode d’étude de la theía moîra centrée autour de pôles de significations (sophistiques, socratiques, extatiques, techniques, épistémologiques et politiques) dans le but de comprendre la complexité de la theía moîra. Plus précisément, notre travail montre que ces pôles de significations suivent le plus souvent un triple mouvement de formulation, de mise à l’écart et de réactivation au sein du corpus platonicien et que ce triple mouvement entend répondre à la variété des problèmes et des difficultés qui parcourent l’œuvre de Platon. / Surprisingly, scholars have always paid a relatively limited attention to Plato’s theía moîra - an academic silence which proved damaging to its exegetical analysis. Notwithstanding the contributions of German (Zeller), French (Souihlé, Des Places) or British and American (Berry, Greene) specialists, who all tried to interpret the theía moîra, these attempts failed to offer a satisfactory analysis of Plato’s θεία μοῖρα. Though Plato refers to the theía moîra many times in his work, it is extremely difficult to either precisely define or to supply a definitive translation of the theía moîra. Nor can one easily make it fit into any preconceived thematic field.This disparity, as surprising as it may seem, nevertheless poses a certain number of problems. Our work aims to provide an interpretative framework for the theía moîra revolving around two main axes. First, we will demonstrate the limits of the existing body of scholarly work by pointing out the over-simplification of the theía moîra inherent to those studies (particularly the skeptical, ironic, taxonomic, genetic and anachronistic approaches). Second, so as to understand the complexity of the meaning of the theía moîra, our work intends to establish a methodology built upon pivotal aspects and meanings (sophistic, Socratic, ecstatic, technical, epistemological and political). More precisely, the ambition of this work is to show that these pivotal aspects and meanings are very often guided by a triple principle of formulation, neglect and rediscovery and that this triple principle serves to provide an answer to the multiplicity of questions and difficulties which readers are accustomed to meet in Plato’s work.

Théâtre et philosophie présentent au long de leur histoire des modes d’interaction divers. L’approche privilégiée est ici l’analyse de la querelle qui opposa, au Ve siècle av. J.-C. en Grèce, deux de leurs représentants : Aristophane et Platon. Une analyse des œuvres qui véhiculent leurs attaques respectives permet de dégager les enjeux de cet affrontement ainsi que d’en mesurer la portée. Depuis cette perspective, la notion de mimèsis apparaît mise en jeu : terme d’origine théâtrale et portant essentiellement le sens du « jeu » de l’acteur, la mimèsis est utilisée par Platon comme l’argument majeur de sa critique de la poésie, autant que comme point d’articulation entre les deux mondes de son ontologie. La seconde partie de notre entreprise est consacrée à l’étude de l’élaboration platonicienne de ce concept dans la République. Cette synthèse est également opérée sur un plan littéraire par le dialogue en tant que forme d’écriture à la croisée entre philosophie et théâtre, que l’on aborde à travers l’étude des dialogues de Platon de ce double point de vue. On parvient ainsi à montrer, à partir des éléments analysés, qu’au cœur de l’opposition entre philosophie et théâtre s’ancre une liaison profonde, dont la nature contradictoire n’aura cessé de se manifester par la suite à travers le problème philosophique et le paradigme théâtral de la représentation. / Theatre and philosophy present diverse modes of interaction throughout their history. In order to interrogate their relationship, this investigation will focus on the analysis of the quarrel which, in the fifth century B.C. in Greece, opposes two of their representatives, Aristophanes and Plato. An analysis of the works that launch their respective attacks will enable us to reveal the stakes of this confrontation, as well as to evaluate their impact. From this perspective, the notion of mimèsis appears at stake but also « at play » – hence, it is en jeu: term of theatrical origins which essentially contains the meaning of the actor’s « play », mimèsis comprises not only the central argument of Plato’s critique of poetry, but furthermore, the articulation point between the two worlds of his ontology. The second part of our research is dedicated to the study of Plato’s elaboration of this concept in the Republic. This synthesis is also operated on a literal level by the dialogue as a writing form at a crossroads between philosophy and theatre, which we will approach through the examination of Plato’s dialogues from this double point of view. Taken together the different elements of our analysis reveal that, at the heart of their opposition, lies a deep bound whose contradictory nature has not ceased to manifest itself in the philosophical problem and the theatrical paradigm of representation.

“Irony, Finitude and The Good Life,” examines the notion that Socrates, as he is portrayed in the Platonic dialogues, ought to be viewed and interpreted as a teacher. If this assertion is correct, then it is both appropriate and useful to look to the dialogues for instruction on how to live a philosophical life. This thesis will argue that to look at Socrates as a teacher, a figure who imparts knowledge to those around him on how to live a philosophical life, misses the very conception of the good life that Plato sought to personify when he created the character of Socrates. The proceeding discussion draws upon the work of Alexander Nehamas and Drew Hyland, offering an alternate interpretation of the Symposium. This interpretation argues that viewing Socrates as a teacher falsely idealizes the philosophical life, in turn neglecting Plato’s greater legacy for his character—a legacy in which true virtue lies in exposing the creative possibility inherent in living a philosophical life and prompting one’s own expression of a life inspired by the legacy of Socrates.

Carlo Michelstaedter's Persuasion and Rhetoric (1910) is one of best examples of what Massimo Cacciari calls the early twentieth century "metaphysics of youth." Persuasion and Rhetoric is the result of Michelstaedter's academic investigation on the concepts of "persuasion" and "rhetoric" in Plato and Aristotle. Michelstaedter saw in Plato's corpus the gradual abandonment of Parmenidean "being" and Socrates' dialogical philosophy. He reinterpreted the notions of "persuasion" and "rhetoric" terms of a radical dichotomy, using them to represent two opposed ontological modalities, two epistemological attitudes, and two existential alternatives. If "rhetoric" comprehends language, institutional knowledge, and all manifestations of empirical life, then "persuasion" is defined as the unity of the individual with Parmenidean being. Persuasion is an impossible choice: "lifeless life." Being a decisive alternative to rhetoric, persuasion - much like Platonic mania - can neither be articulated nor communicated. Nevertheless, Michelstaedter speaks, aware of his inevitable failure: he will not persuade anyone.

<p>This dissertation considers the role of the critic in democratic political culture by engaging Socrates. Since Socrates so often stands as an exemplar for many different styles of critical activity, both in political rhetoric and in popular culture, I address the roots of these many figures of Socrates by examining the multiple aspects of Socrates as they appear in Plato's dialogues. Starting from the different metaphors that Socrates uses to describe himself - the stingray, the master of erotics, the midwife, the practitioner of the true political art, and the gadfly - I parse these different strands of Socrates' character and assess their coherence. While each of these descriptions captures a different angle of Socrates' activity vis-à-vis Athenian democracy, I argue that together they also hold one essential aspect in common: Socrates' strange relationship to Athens as both connected and disconnected, immanent in his criticism and yet radically so. As strange both in the context of Athens and in relation to his interpreters, I further advance that the figure of Socrates suggests a kind of political activity committed to disturbance and displacement while also working across, with, and against conventional boundaries and languages. Moreover, I maintain that the Socrates suggests new forms of critical associations that take up his practice of philosophy in democratic culture today.</p> / Dissertation

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>This essay concerns Christina Rossetti’s poem Goblin Market and its use in a Swedish upper secondary classroom. The purpose of this essay was to analyse the poem through a Marxist perspective and investigate how both the analysis of the poem and the poem itself could be used when teaching English to an upper secondary class.</p><p>This was done in two stages; firstly by analysing the Victorian society’s effect on Rossetti’s poem through a Marxist criticism perspective and secondly by using a specific pedagogic method called the Socratic Dialogue method when analysing the use of the analysis and the poem in the classroom.</p><p>When analysing the poem and how it has been affected by its contemporary society, it becomes clear that the poem provides a critique in several ways towards consumerism and social ideals of Victorian Britain. Concerning the use of the poem and the analysis in the upper secondary English classroom it is evident that the poem and the literary analysis combined provides an interesting view on Victorian Britain for the pupils to discuss while having Socratic seminars.</p>

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2009. / Adviser: Nancy Stanlick. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-58).

This dissertation examines Socrates' method of examining interlocutors, referred to as the elenchus, in Plato's definitional dialogues. It contains three parts. The first part lays out various theories of the elenchus. The first chapter examines the seminal view of Richard Robinson. The second sketches the development and aftermath of Vlastos' constructivist view. The third focuses on Socrates' own testimony about the elenchus in the Apology. These pictures of the elenchus form a selection of views against which various definitional dialogues may be compared. The second part, containing six chapters, provides a detailed commentary on the Euthyphro. Various features of that dialogue suggest that neither the prominent forms of constructivism, nor their non-constructivist alternatives presented in the first part adequately capture Socrates' procedure. The third part, consisting of one chapter, presents my view of the Socratic elenchus, which I term “technical destructivism.” I argue that this view provides a straight-forward solution to a number of problems which the alternative treatments leave unsolved. It also helps to explain some otherwise puzzling features of Socrates' procedure in the shorter definitional dialogues, including his use of the technē analogy, and his appeal to the priority of definitional knowledge. / Philosophy / text

Ce mémoire a pour but d’élucider l’analyse et l’évaluation nietzschéennes du sens et de la portée de la figure de Socrate dans les cultures antique et moderne. Pour ce faire, nous nous pencherons d’abord sur la question de l’identité de Socrate, ce qui permettra d’introduire une distinction centrale à l’analyse de Nietzsche, soit celle entre la doctrine et la personnalité du célèbre Athénien. En effet, Nietzsche isole la personnalité de Socrate, qu’il circonscrit à partir des notions d’instinct, de pulsion et d’affect, de sa doctrine, qu’il appelle le socratisme et qu’il définit à partir de l’équation socratique raison = vertu = bonheur. Ensuite, nous développerons les trois éléments sur lesquels il s’appuie pour expliquer que Socrate ait pu séduire les Grecs, soit le fait qu’il fut un grand érotique, qu’il introduisit une nouvelle forme de joute à Athènes et qu’il apparut comme étant un médecin pour ses contemporains. Cette question des raisons permettant d’expliquer que Socrate ait pu séduire les Grecs est déterminante pour Nietzsche, puisque c’est de là qu’il est amené à se demander qui est ce Socrate et quel a été son véritable impact sur la culture, soit les deux questions qui sont au cœur de ce qu’il appelle « le problème de Socrate ». Enfin, nous nous pencherons sur le diagnostic que le philosophe allemand pose sur le célèbre Athénien ainsi que sur son évaluation de l’impact du socratisme sur les cultures antique et moderne, après quoi nous présenterons l’inversion des valeurs que Nietzsche tente d’opérer dans sa propre culture. Nous verrons alors qu’il cherche entre autres par cette inversion des valeurs à nous libérer du socratisme, car il est d’avis que cette doctrine dévalorise toute forme d’agir puisant ses motifs dans ce qui relève de l’inconscient et survalorise une morale luttant contre les pulsions dominantes en nous. / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Nietzsche’s analysis and assessment of the meaning and the impact of Socrates’ character on the classical and modern culture. To that effect, I will emphasize the question of Socrates’ identity, in order to introduce the crucial issue in Nietzsche’s analysis, namely the distinction between Socrates’ doctrine and his character. Nietzsche isolated Socrates’ character – which he defined through the categories of instinct, drive, and affect – from his doctrine, which he labelled socratism and defined through the Socratic equation reason = virtue = happiness. This thesis explores the three core elements Nietzsche used to explain how Socrates was able to seduce the Greeks: not only was Socrates a very erotic figure, he also introduced a new form of debate to Athens, and was considered an eminent physician by his contemporaries. Socrates’ appeal to the Greek is of fundamental importance to Nietzsche, since it prompted him to question Socrates’ inherent character, and his true impact on Athenian culture. It thus forms the crux of what he called “the problem of Socrates.” Nietzsche’s understanding of socratism as well as its impact on classical and modern culture allows him to revaluate all values within his own culture. To that effect, I reveal Nietzsche’s critiques of socratism – in particular, his belief that society needed to be liberated from socratism, since it denies all agency to individuals. Given that it was strongly motivated by the unconscious, socratism, according to Nietzsche, overemphasizes a certain morality in the struggle against our dominant impulses.