The Symposium is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385-370 BC. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love, and (in latter-day interpretations) is the origin of the concept of Platonic love. Love is examined in a sequence of speeches by men attending a symposium, or drinking party. Each man must deliver an encomium, a speech in praise of Love (Eros). The party takes place at the house of the tragedian Agathon in Athens. Socrates in his speech asserts that the highest purpose of love is to become a philosopher or, literally, a lover of wisdom. Commonly...

Gorgias is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC. The dialogue depicts a conversation between Socrates and a small group of sophists (and other guests) at a dinner gathering. Socrates debates with the sophist seeking the true definition of rhetoric, attempting to pinpoint the essence of rhetoric and unveil the flaws of the sophistic oratory popular in Athens at this time. The art of persuasion was widely considered necessary for political and legal advantage in classical Athens, and rhetoricians promoted themselves as teachers of this fundamental skill. Some, like Gorgias, were...

Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. It appears to attempt to determine the definition of virtue, or arete, meaning virtue in general, rather than particular virtues, such as justice or temperance. The first part of the work is written in the Socratic dialectical style and Meno is reduced to confusion or aporia. In response to Meno's paradox (or the learner's paradox), however, Socrates introduces positive ideas: the immortality of the soul, the theory of knowledge as recollection (anamnesis), which Socrates demonstrates by posing a mathematical puzzle to one of Meno's slaves, the...

The argument of the Euthyphro dialogue is based on "definition by division." Socrates goads Euthyphro to offer definitions of "piety." The purpose of establishing a clear definition is to provide a basis for Euthyphro to teach Socrates the answer to the question: "What is piety?" Ostensibly, the purpose of the dialogue is to provide Socrates with a definitive meaning of "piety," with which he can defend against the charge of impiety in the pending trial. Socrates seeks a definition of "piety" that is a universal (universally true), against which all actions can be measured to determine...

The Apology of Socrates is the Socratic dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defence, which Socrates presented at his trial for impiety and corruption, in 399 BC. Specifically the Apology of Socrates is a defence against the charges of "corrupting the young" and "not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" to Athens. Among the primary sources about the trial and death of the philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC), the Apology of Socrates is the dialogue that depicts the trial, and is one of four Socratic dialogues, along with Euthyphro,...

The Theaetetus is one of the middle to later dialogues of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Plato was Socrates' student and Aristotle's teacher. As in most of Plato's dialogues, the main character is Socrates. In the Theaetetus, Socrates converses with Theaetetus, a boy, and Theodorus, his mathematics teacher. Although this dialogue features Plato's most sustained discussion on the concept of knowledge, it fails to yield an adequate definition of knowledge, thus ending inconclusively. Despite this lack of a positive definition, the Theaetetus has been the source of endless scholarly...

The Apology of Socrates, by Plato, is the Socratic dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defence, which Socrates presented at his trial for impiety and corruption, in 399 BC. Specifically the Apology of Socrates is a defence against the charges of "corrupting the young" and "not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" to Athens (24b). Among the primary sources about the trial and death of the philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC), the Apology of Socrates is the dialogue that depicts the trial, and is one of four Socratic dialogues, along...