AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Why Socrates Refused To Write
- Socrates preferred live, interrogative conversation because texts cannot reply or engage you.
- Angie Hobbs explains Plato used dialogues to recreate that responsive philosophical exchange.
The Oracle That Launched Socratic Questioning
- Socrates used cross-questioning (elenchus) to expose false confidence and ignorance in others.
- David Sedley recounts the Delphic oracle story as the spur for this relentless questioning method.
Start With Definitions
- Socrates held that you must first define what a thing is before addressing further questions about it.
- David Sedley notes Aristotle regarded the priority of definition as one of Socrates' key contributions.