Socratic Studies

This is the companion volume to Gregory Vlastos’ highly acclaimed work Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher. Four ground-breaking papers which laid the basis for his understanding of Socrates are collected here, in revised form: they examine Socrates’ elenctic method of investigative argument, his disavowal of knowledge, his concern for definition, and the complications of his relationship with the Athenian democracy. The fifth chapter is a new and provocative discussion of Socrates’ arguments in the Protagoras and Laches. The epilogue ‘Socrates and Vietnam’ suggests that Socrates was not, as Plato claimed, the most just man of his time. The papers have been prepared for publication by Professor Myles Burnyeat with the minimum of editorial intervention.

• Socrates has sold 1850 paperbacks in HEO since the beginning of 1991 •Professor Vlastos, who died in October 1991, is revered as a great teacher and the world’s leading authority on Socrates and Plato • Everyone who bought Socrates will want to buy this book too

Editor’s preface; 1. The Socratic elenchus: method is all; 2. Socrates’ disavowal of knowledge; 3. Is the ‘Socratic fallacy’ Socratic?; 4. The historical Socrates and Athenian democracy; 5. The Protagoras and the Laches; Epilogue: Socrates and Vietnam; Additional notes.