Why Did Plato Write Socratic Dialogues?

Apeiron 30 (4):109 - 123 (1997)
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Abstract

I argue that it was not Plato's intention in his Socratic dialogues to provide a biography of Socrates. Rather, his intention was to describe and defend the philosophical life against its critics. The Socratic dialogues are "unhappy encounters" between Socrates, defender of the life of philosophy, and those who do not comprehend or who reject that life.

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William Prior
Santa Clara University

Citations of this work

Eros, paideia e Filosofia: Sócrates entre Diotima e Alcibíades.Franco Ferrari - 2012 - Archai: Revista de Estudos Sobre as Origens Do Pensamento Ocidental 9:65-71.

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