The Plato Paradigm

Socrates continues his attempts to make Hippias realize that ability is a means, and not a good end in itself, by asking which bad end is preferable, the one by choice (with ability) or the one without choice (without ability). His examples turn to parts of the body. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at...

Is the intentional or the unintentional wrongdoer better? Hippias effectively contradicts his escape clause (where he pointed out that the intentional wrongdoer is considered by the Many to be worse) by choosing the intentional wrongdoer (Hippias has built his reputation upon the Many's admiration of ability per se). However, as he points out, the fields Socrates has chosen are running, wrestling,...

Eudicus brings Hippias back into the conversation. Hippias agrees to be questioned again. Socrates exploits Hippias' attempted escape clause to move the conversation from the ability to lie to the ability to do wrong. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https://theplatoparadigm.com

Socrates cashes in on his investment at the beginning of the dialogue. Eudicus is availed upon to bring Hippias back into the conversation. Socrates is now able to play on Hippias' two contradictory criteria by which the ability to do wrong is either good or bad. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: ht...

Socrates does not allow Hippias to escape, but begins buttering up Hippias in an effort to return him to the conversation. This does not work, and Hippias remains uncooperative. Socrates will move on to stronger tactics next time. All of this marks the transition between the first and second major arguments of the dialogue. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the...

Socrates springs the double trap. Hippias escapes by moving the goalposts, from simple lying (the able person can lie or tell the truth at will and is therefore better) to injustice (no able person doing injustice willingly is considered better than one doing injustice unwillingly). This is not opening up the discussion, but an attempt by Hippias to end the discussion with the crowd still on his s...

Socrates at the beginning of the eristic debate had made Hippias interpret "polytropos" negatively as "unsimple" and "lying", making Odysseus very bad in contrast to Achilles the truthful and simple. Under pressure, Hippias has had to add "willingly", so that the evil Odysseus lies willingly. Socrates now springs an eristic surprise on Hippias, a double trap emphasizing the ability both of Hippias...

Socrates demonstrates how Homeric characters should be analysed - by comparing what they say with what they do. Could Plato be hinting at the way Platonic characters should be analysed? Socrates provocatively calls Achilles a liar for declaring his intention to go home, while never actually making any preparations. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek tex...

Socrates derails Hippias' attempt to turn the eristic competition into a rhetorical competition. Socrates praises Hippias while incidentally touching upon the art of learning and the art of judging character. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https://theplatoparadigm.com

Socrates allows Hippias to escape being refuted, and Hippias proposes a straight rhetorical debate with speech and counter-speech, to prove that the true Achilles and the false Odysseus are two different people. The audience (Eudicus and friends) would decide. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https...

Hippias polytropos. Socrates never calls Hippias explicitly "polytropos", but he does point out how many technai (skills) Hippias is an expert in. He also goes out of his way to indicate that Hippias is always advertising his expertise in many technai. Hippias, then, is a deigma for the polytropos, but a rather useless polytropos since the products of his various types of expertise are used simply...

Hippias is happy for Socrates to publicize Hippias' ability in calculation, geometry, and astronomy, although Hippias' ability to lie and tell the truth in all these fields would seem to aid Socrates' general argument that the false and the true man are one and the same. Hippias is supposed to be defending the position that the true man is better than the false man, who is someone else (just as Ac...

Socrates eristically refutes Hippias' claim that Achilles is better than Odysseus by arguing that the true and the false are actually the same, but Hippias just as eristically escapes the refutation. Socrates until now had incidentally shown that Hippias is most able at calculation, but now Hippias in his escape allows Socrates to show that Hippias is most polytropos, as we'll see next time. Here...

So what was Hippias' prepared speech on Achilles, Nestor, and Odysseus about? And for what purpose? Being most able and most polytropos is distinguished. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https://theplatoparadigm.com

Socrates seems to have no idea how to win.an eristic debate. Instead of making the audience laugh at Hippias, he allows the sophist to agree that he, Hippias, is the most able, most expert, and best, at arithmetic. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https://theplatoparadigm.com

Homer is finally dropped from the conversation. Hippias will say what he and Homer think... Socrates asks about the false person, and Hippias in response, because of eristic choices (Black or White, no Grey) offered by Socrates, attributes to the false person: ability, prudence, and expertise. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulti...

Socrates uses the eristic debate to predict what Hippias will say. Because Socrates attributes polytropos to Achilles, Hippias is required by eristics to give the term a negative connotation and reattribute it to Odysseus. LSJ, the Greek-English Lexicon, says that Plato gives the term this negative connotation, and makes Hippias' temporary wordplay an acceptable usage. Here I read through Platonic...

Socrates is confused about the most obvious thing in Homer's Odyssey, applying Odysseus' epithet to Achilles. Hippias then has to explain that Achilles is better than Odysseus precisely because Achilles is not polytropos while Odysseus is. Socrates' trap is sprung. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at:...

Apparently Hippias has a prepared speech for his exhibitions in which he claims that Homer made Achilles the best, Nestor the most expert, and Odysseus the most polytropos. Socrates is puzzled (only) by the last example, despite this epithet appearing in the first line of the Odyssey. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analys...

The changing faces of Socrates' first question about Achilles and Odysseus. What is the connection between Hippias and the three Homeric heroes, Achilles, Nestor, and Odysseus? Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https://theplatoparadigm.com

Socrates, Hippias, and Eudicus cooperate to create a competition between Socrates and Hippias. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https://theplatoparadigm.com

Socrates begins spinning his web. Using Eudicus' father, Socrates restricts Hippias, who hasn't even entered this conversation yet, to discussing just Achilles and Odysseus, and to supporting Achilles as the better hero, which everyone knows to be true anyway: he is aristos (best) in the Iliad. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The result...

Why is Socrates silent? Who is Eudicus? These and other non-philosophical questions meet us immediately at the beginning of Plato's Hippias Minor Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go. The resulting analyses may be found at: https://theplatoparadigm.com

How did Plato really intend his dialogues to be read? If everything in a dialogue is taken into account, we don't need to guess. In this series, I'll demonstrate with a close reading of a few short dialogues what Platonic dialogues are actually about. No previous experience is required, and indeed may actually be an advantage. Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on t...