Plato

Through his depiction of Socrates, Plato develops a model of questioning, definition, and critique that has deeply shaped approaches to education and inquiry and continues to serve as a powerful model for careful thinking about a wide range of topics. This course begins by exploring the Socratic “method” as developed in Plato’s early dialogues on ethical questions and the life of Socrates. In subsequent, more elaborate dialogues including the Meno, Symposium, and Republic, Plato uses literary tools such as myth and allegory to inquire about the nature of perennial values ranging from love to knowledge and the ideal state. In reading and discussing the texts, we will consider the questions and views Socrates and Plato confront in these dialogues, while also practicing the methods used to navigate them. In the process, we will develop skills and strategies for interpretation, identification of argumentative claims and inferences, and evaluation of arguments.