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Unit 1: Plato I — The Socratic Dialogues and the Theory of Forms

Duration

Weeks 1-4

Central Questions

  • What is philosophy, and how does Socratic questioning differ from other forms of inquiry?
  • What does Socrates mean when he claims to know nothing?
  • How does the theory of forms emerge, and what problems is it meant to solve?
  • What is the relationship between knowledge and virtue?

Overview

We begin with Plato because Western philosophy begins with Plato. The Socratic dialogues establish the practice of philosophy itself: the relentless questioning, the refusal of easy answers, the distinction between appearance and reality, opinion and knowledge.

The early dialogues show Socrates interrogating conventional beliefs about virtue, piety, courage, and justice. These conversations typically end in aporia—productive confusion—rather than positive doctrine. This matters: philosophy begins in not-knowing.

The middle dialogues introduce the theory of forms—Plato's answer to the question of how knowledge is possible at all. If everything in the sensible world changes, what could we possibly have stable knowledge of? The forms are Plato's answer: eternal, unchanging realities that the particulars of our experience imitate or participate in.

This unit culminates in the Phaedo, where Socrates faces death and offers his most sustained defense of the immortality of the soul and the reality of the forms.

Readings

Week 1: Socratic Method and the Examined Life

Euthyphro (complete, ~20 pages)

  • The problem of definition
  • Socrates' questioning method
  • The Euthyphro dilemma: is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or pious because it is loved?

Apology (complete, ~25 pages)

  • Socrates' defense speech at his trial
  • The claim to know nothing
  • The unexamined life
  • Philosophy as divine mission

Crito (complete, ~15 pages)

  • The obligation to obey the law
  • Socrates' refusal to escape
  • The social contract argument

Reading time: ~5-6 hours

Writing assignment (due end of Week 1):

500 words on this passage from the Apology:

"I am wiser than this man; it is likely that neither of us knows anything worthwhile, but he thinks he knows something when he does not, whereas when I do not know, neither do I think I know; so I am likely to be wiser than he to this small extent, that I do not think I know what I do not know." (21d)

What is Socratic ignorance? Is it genuine or ironic? How does "knowing that you don't know" differ from ordinary ignorance?

Week 2: Virtue and Knowledge

Meno (complete, ~35 pages)

  • Can virtue be taught?
  • The paradox of inquiry (Meno's paradox)
  • The theory of recollection (anamnesis)
  • The slave boy demonstration
  • True belief vs. knowledge

Reading time: ~4-5 hours

Writing assignment (due end of Week 2):

500 words on the paradox of inquiry (80d-e):

"How will you look for it, Socrates, when you do not know at all what it is? How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all? If you should meet with it, how will you know that this is the thing that you did not know?"

How does Plato's theory of recollection attempt to solve this problem? Is the solution satisfying?

Week 3: The Theory of Forms

Phaedo (complete, ~60 pages)

  • The setting: Socrates' last day
  • Arguments for the immortality of the soul
  • The theory of forms fully articulated
  • The forms as causes
  • The final myth

This is the most demanding reading of the unit. Take your time. The arguments are intricate.

Reading time: ~6-7 hours

Writing assignment (due end of Week 3):

500 words on the "affinity argument" (78b-84b):

Socrates argues that the soul is more like the forms (invisible, unchanging, immortal) than like bodies (visible, changing, mortal). Reconstruct this argument. What are its premises? Is it valid? Is it sound?

Week 4: Synthesis

No new reading. Re-read key passages from all four dialogues. Prepare for unit essay.

Questions for reflection:

  • How does Socrates' method in the early dialogues relate to the positive doctrine of forms in the Phaedo?
  • What is the relationship between knowledge and virtue? Does Socrates think you can know the good and fail to do it?
  • Why does Plato write in dialogue form rather than treatises?
  • What do the forms actually explain? What problems do they create?

Unit Essay (due end of Week 4):

2,000 words.

Prompt: What is the theory of forms, and what philosophical problems is it designed to solve? Drawing on the Meno and Phaedo, explain how forms function in Plato's epistemology. Then raise at least one significant objection to the theory. (You may anticipate objections Aristotle will later make, but your argument should stand on its own, not rely on Aristotle.)

Key Concepts to Master

  • Elenchus: Socratic cross-examination; the method of refutation through questioning
  • Aporia: Productive puzzlement; the state of not-knowing that philosophy begins from
  • Anamnesis: Recollection; the theory that learning is remembering what the soul knew before birth
  • Forms (eidos, idea): Eternal, unchanging, non-physical realities that sensible particulars imitate or participate in
  • Participation (methexis): The relationship between particular things and the forms they instantiate
  • Separation: The forms exist independently of the particulars that participate in them

Connections Forward

  • The theory of forms will be developed further in Republic (Unit 2) and critiqued by Aristotle (Unit 3)
  • The relationship between knowledge and virtue recurs throughout ancient ethics
  • The distinction between appearance and reality underlies all subsequent epistemology
  • The dialogue form and Socratic method remain live philosophical tools
  • Heidegger's reading of Plato on truth and being (Year 2)
  • The Frankfurt School's debt to Plato's critique of appearance (Year 3)

Notes on Reading

Read with a pen. Mark:

  • Passages you don't understand
  • Arguments that seem important
  • Moments where Socrates seems to be doing something tricky
  • Connections to other dialogues or to your own experience

Do not consult secondary sources. Your confusion is productive. Sit with it.

After you've completed each dialogue, discussion with Claude is welcome. Sequence: read alone → write response → discuss.