Socratic “Argument” in Plato’s Early Definitional Dialogues

Abstract

It is widely assumed that the Socrates of Plato’s definitional dialogues is an arguer, that is, someone who argues, or presents arguments. This conception of Socrates is so entrenched in the scholarship that it is built into the best English translations of Plato’s texts, which render the Greek word ‘logos’ – a word with a bewilderingly large number of possible meanings – as ‘argument’ in contexts in which this is highly disputable. This essay explores the relation between questioning, assertion, and argument, and advances some reasons for supposing that Socrates practices a genuinely interrogative method.