Class-by-class assignments:
| Tues. 8/31: | 309a-324d | (LB 1-19—pages in the Lombardo-Bell translation) |
| Thurs. 9/2: | 324d-338e | (LB 19-34) |
| Tues. 9/7: | 338e-351a | (LB 34-48) |
| Thurs. 9/9: | 351b-362 | (LB 48-59) |
Reading the Protagoras:
Plato’s “dialogues” are fictional conversations though they often involve historical figures. The conversation in the Protagoras begins with no obviously philosophical content, but the explicitly philosophical subject matter and the density of the argumentation will increase as you go along.
There are a number of ways of thinking about a dialogue like that as you are reading it. One is, of course, to follow the thread of the conversation carefully. But there are two ways of going beyond this. One is to look below the surface of the conversation to identify ideas that Plato introduces without explicitly stating them. Another is to go beyond what is said to consider its implications, to think of further arguments for and against claims made, and to form your own opinions on the issues raised.
The second of these kinds of thinking will be the most important for our class discussions. However, there is one way of looking below the surface of the conversation that will be important, too. The character Socrates often speaks ironically; that is, what he says is not always what he believes. You will find footnotes alerting you to some cases of this, but you should watch for others. It is always a valid question regarding Plato’s dialogues whether, when Socrates says something, he really believes the claims he seems to make—and this question is often very difficult to answer.
You will find two sorts of introductory material in the edition of the dialogue I’ve assigned. First, there is an introduction, which is valuable but not something I am assigning to you read. Second, there is a preface by the translators, which is important because it fills out the meaning of the Greek term that is here translated by the word ‘virtue’.
The following are some of the ideas and issues to watch for and think about. They are organized by assignment, but you should take the list to be cummulative: once introduced an idea is apt to keep reappearing for the rest of the dialogue.
(1) the nature and value of education (particularly the sort Protagoras might provide), whether “virtue” can be taught, whether everyone has a share of justice;
(2) whether the “virtues” are really different or all fundamentally the same;
(3) whether it is hard to become good, whether it is hard to be good, whether anyone ever willingly does bad things, whether courage and wisdom are the same thing;
(4) whether all pleasant things are good and unpleasant things bad
But don’t feel limited to this range of topics—look for others, too.