Platonic Dialogues: Key Concepts and Philosophical Reflections
Plato’s Republic (534c)
1. Main Ideas
The text, written by Plato, discusses important ideas related to a conversation. It is a dialogue between a philosopher and a disciple (or someone close) who listens to his instructions.
- Plato argues that a person does not know the Good itself if they are unable to distinguish it from all other ideas.
- He believed that those lacking reason should not be allowed to direct important issues.
- He states that those devoted to this discipline can ask and respond with great competence.
- For Plato, education is the pinnacle of all reasoning.
2. Definitions and Reflections
- The Good Itself: What is good, best for the person in the community.
- Opinion/Belief: All the ideas a person has about someone or something in particular.
Plato’s Apology of Socrates
1. Main Ideas
In this text, Plato explains a scene from the life of Socrates. Based on the famous affirmation of the wise: “I only know that I know nothing,” the dialogue discusses the nature of wisdom.
- It discusses how the person who claims to be wise is often more ignorant than the one who does not presume knowledge and focuses on what remains to be learned.
- Socrates, not thinking himself the wisest man, sought out others whom he considered more intelligent.
- He concludes that the most arrogant (or conceited) happen to be the most inferior, and vice versa.
2. Definitions and Reflections
- Wisdom: Wisdom is the knowledge of just things. In my opinion, it is a concept that can be defined from various viewpoints. It is the set of skills, knowledge, and methods that a person can possess. A wise person acknowledges their ignorance and always seeks to know and learn more.
- What is Good: I find it a very relative concept, but one could say that it is what is just, trying to benefit the maximum number of people; it is benevolent. In short, everything that is not detrimental. However, the division between what is good and what is bad is complex, complicated, and uncertain.
Plato’s Phaedo: Reality and the Soul
1. Main Ideas
Like all his writings, Plato writes in a dialogue where he puts his thoughts in the mouth of Socrates in a conversation with a friend or a disciple.
- It questions whether reality is always the same, in identical form, or if it is changing. That is, it asks if an entity can undergo permutation yet remain identical.
- During the conversation, he and his partner conclude that there are two kinds of realities: one visible and one invisible.
- The latter (the invisible) is unchanged, but the former (the visible) fails to remain in any particular state.
2. Definitions and Reflections
- Intelligence: We could say that intelligence is the ability of a person, to a greater or lesser degree, to understand, learn, and assimilate.
- Essence: The non-variable part of a person or thing; the most significant and important aspect.
Plato’s Parmenides: The Problem of Forms
1. Main Ideas
Plato questioned whether Ideas (Forms/Concepts) are what give names to things, and if things participate in these concepts in their entirety (i.e., all the features) or only in part.
- The dialogue explores the conclusion that while a single thing participates in an Idea, that Idea itself can be shared by many other things, raising questions about the unity and uniqueness of the Forms.
- Therefore, the same concept can apply to two very different and distant things.
2. Definitions and Reflections
- Participation: The relationship where elements share the characteristics of a concept or Idea (Form).
- Similarity: A relation of near equality, where two items or persons share common characteristics.