• GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    there was also much ado about how he would also teach slaves.

    You’re right, especially since one of the big ones is Meno, in which Socrates argues for the Reminiscence theory of knowledge (i.e. that knowledge is remembered rather than learned) by educating a slave on math by basically asking the slave leading questions allowing him to come to the answer using his own ability for inference.

    I disagree with Socrates-via-Plato on most things, but the dialogues are still very interesting and it reminds me of why I got into philosophy to start with.

    • TreadOnMe [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, that was it!

      Though, based on the little bit we hear from Xenophon, my personal belief is that actual Socrates would disagree with most of what Socrates-via-Plato would theorize. He seemed far more interested in a theory of criticism than a theory of construction, but that is probably my personal bias talking.

      Yeah, I definitely got into philosophy for the history of ideas more than anything else. It is absolutely incredible how long some of these ideological dialogues have historically been going on, and yet somehow people still treat them as if they are novel.