Do you think we would be talking about the Socratic Method if Socrates hadn’t made the journey to the Oracle of Apollo and got his answer that he was the most wise of all men.?
We don't know for sure he went with Chaerephon. Aristotle says Socrates went to Delphi at some point, and it was difficult to travel there during the war, so I speculate in the book that it Socrates and Chaerephon may well have been there on the same occasion, when the pronouncement was made.
It's hard to say what impact the pronouncement had on the method. Arguably, Plato gives two slightly conflicting accounts, insofar as he portrays Socrates in the Symposium talking about a conversation early on with Diotima (possibly Aspasia), ten years before Pericles died, in which she appears to use the Socratic Method on Socrates. But then in the Apology, Plato has Socrates tell this story about how his method originated in his response to the pronouncement of the oracle - and he seems quite emphatic about this.
Where there's an apparent conflict, I like to try to figure out if somehow they could both be true. If Plato is serious about "Diotima" using a version of the Socratic Method around 440 BCE, he should presumably think of the pronouncement of the Oracle as having happened at least roughly in the same time period, probably some years later, though. (It's usually dated around 433 BCE, but there's a lot of uncertainty around this.) My attempt to reconcile these things is to assume that "Diotima" planted a seed in Socrates' mind, which then flourished in response to the oracle's pronouncement, as he began employing the method more widely and openly, in discussions with people in the streets of Athens, etc.
The way you reconciled it makes it very believable in my mind. I just made it to Chapter 10 in my reading. When I finish my reading I will go and do a review of the book. I love it so far. Thank you sir for your writing and your time.
That's from Plato's Euthydemus. I think one of the most fundamental mistakes people make about ancient philosophy is that they confuse it with religion in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Stoics believed in Zeus but not out of a leap of faith or because of scripture, revelation, or tradition. They, for the most part at least, thought it was a rational world-view. Philosophy comes first and then religion, whereas in Christianity it's the other way around.
Do you think we would be talking about the Socratic Method if Socrates hadn’t made the journey to the Oracle of Apollo and got his answer that he was the most wise of all men.?
We don't know for sure he went with Chaerephon. Aristotle says Socrates went to Delphi at some point, and it was difficult to travel there during the war, so I speculate in the book that it Socrates and Chaerephon may well have been there on the same occasion, when the pronouncement was made.
It's hard to say what impact the pronouncement had on the method. Arguably, Plato gives two slightly conflicting accounts, insofar as he portrays Socrates in the Symposium talking about a conversation early on with Diotima (possibly Aspasia), ten years before Pericles died, in which she appears to use the Socratic Method on Socrates. But then in the Apology, Plato has Socrates tell this story about how his method originated in his response to the pronouncement of the oracle - and he seems quite emphatic about this.
Where there's an apparent conflict, I like to try to figure out if somehow they could both be true. If Plato is serious about "Diotima" using a version of the Socratic Method around 440 BCE, he should presumably think of the pronouncement of the Oracle as having happened at least roughly in the same time period, probably some years later, though. (It's usually dated around 433 BCE, but there's a lot of uncertainty around this.) My attempt to reconcile these things is to assume that "Diotima" planted a seed in Socrates' mind, which then flourished in response to the oracle's pronouncement, as he began employing the method more widely and openly, in discussions with people in the streets of Athens, etc.
The way you reconciled it makes it very believable in my mind. I just made it to Chapter 10 in my reading. When I finish my reading I will go and do a review of the book. I love it so far. Thank you sir for your writing and your time.
Seems like Epictetus uses a version of this in his talks about the "will to get and avoid things "
Love this...."Are the gods pleased because an act is Holy, or is an act Holy because it pleases the gods " Socrates
That's from Plato's Euthydemus. I think one of the most fundamental mistakes people make about ancient philosophy is that they confuse it with religion in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Stoics believed in Zeus but not out of a leap of faith or because of scripture, revelation, or tradition. They, for the most part at least, thought it was a rational world-view. Philosophy comes first and then religion, whereas in Christianity it's the other way around.
Thanks Donald