Four Educators in Plato's Theaetetus

Abstract

Scholars who have taken interest inTheaetetus' educational theme argue that Plato contrasts an inferior, even dangerous, sophistic education to a superior, philosophical, Socratic education. I explore the contrasting exhortations, methods, ideals and epistemological foundations of Socratic and Protagorean education and suggest that Socrates' treatment of Protagoras as educator is far less dismissive than others claim. Indeed, Plato, in Theaetetus, offers a qualified defence of both Socrates and Protagoras. Socrates and Protagoras each dwell in the middle ground between the extremes presented in the dialogue's digression, which contrasts the life of the philosopher and the life of the courtroom orator. Both Socrates and Protagoras demonstrate a serious engagement with both politics and philosophy. Theodorus presents an educational option in which theory is divorced from politics while an ignoble sophistic education is presented as political but divorced from theory. Protagorean education, in Theaetetus, emerges as superior to a base sophistic education, though it remains inferior to Socratic education.Theaetetus is Plato's masterful dialogue on the question 'what is knowledge' and rightfully holds the preeminent place among classic discussions of epistemology. Theaetetus also contains several educational analogies: learning is compared to writing on a wax block (191c-196c) or the flocking of birds in an intellectual aviary (197b-200d). In addition, it offers arguably the greatest of Plato's many educational images, the educator as midwife. The midwife analogy vividly presents an educational insight that remains influential to this day-specifically that ideas may be drawn out of young minds by asking the right questions. Curiously, though the midwife metaphor is often cited in relation to the contemporary use of the 'Socratic method' in elementary, secondary, higher and, especially, legal education, educational philosophers have tended to neglect Theaetetus and the powerful educational analogy therein. 1 Indeed, to my knowledge, there are only three sustained treatments of Theaetetus in educational journals (Hansen,

Measuring Humans against Gods: on the Digression of Plato’s Theaetetus

“…In contrast to most other such attempts, however, the study inscribes itself into the tradition of dramatically oriented readings of Plato stemming from Paul Friedländer and argues that the interplay between Socrates and Theodorus is a key to understanding the significance of the passage. But in opposition to other such readings of the Theaetetus, most of which tend to see the ideal as ironic (e. g. Rue 1993;Howland 1998;Mintz 2011), the study contends that this interplay suggests that we should take the ideal of philosophy found in the passage seriously.9 The study finally differs from most recent interpretations by arguing that the ideal of godlikeness is essentially Socratic.…”

The Experience of Gay Christian Men Attending Collaborative Workshops Facilitated by a Sexual Health Professional and the Church

“…Socrates does not meet Protagoras in person, and by then, Protagoras is dead. The book Truth is a dialogue between Socrates and a young geometry student, Theodorou, about the nature of knowledge in his work (Mintz, 2011). In Plato's Theaetetus, there is a claim that the essence of knowledge consists of perception (Heidegger and Sadler, 2002).…”

The Experience of Gay Christian Men Attending Collaborative Workshops Facilitated by a Sexual Health Professional and the Church

“…Socrates does not meet Protagoras in person, and by then, Protagoras is dead. The book Truth is a dialogue between Socrates and a young geometry student, Theodorou, about the nature of knowledge in his work (Mintz, 2011). In Plato's Theaetetus, there is a claim that the essence of knowledge consists of perception (Heidegger and Sadler, 2002).…”