Platos Dialogue Essay - 463 Words

Platos Dialogue Dialogue: to exchange and discuss ideas in a frank and open manner to reach a mutually agreed understanding. Dialogue on difficult issues is important to man. People can learn from others by exchanging ideas and expressing how a philosophy or a stand on an issue affects them. Comprehending the needs, feelings, problems and views of others can help create a better future for all. Can we in a society that proclaims the right to free speech participate in a free and open dialogue? Do we take the time to discuss important issues? Have we as a nation avoided talking about difficult issues? Platos Symposium illustrates the need for open and frank dialogue. Engaging in dialogue that allows each individual to express†¦show more content†¦The world today has a complex communication system. However, much of this communication is one way. Whether from the pulpit, television, radio or printed media it is just going in one direction and the exchange of ideas is stymied. Serious dialogue is not always a part of our everyday life. Distractions keep us from taking the time to share our thoughts with others. Television and other forms of mass media preoccupy our time. Fewer families are having meals together, each member of the family attending to their own busy life. We talk about important life issues only when they have a direct impact on our lives. Communication is essential to human existence. Humans are social beings dependent on each other for survival. Without dialogue we cannot fulfill our basic need to share our wants, needs, and fears. True dialogue in this nation has been hampered by partisan dogma and political correctness, which in turn, suppresses the frank and open exchange of ideas. Many people withhold their inner thoughts on many subjects because of the fear instilled by political correctness. People fear being judged for what they say. A single mistake in phrasing can cost a person his reputation, career or even possibly his life. Plato spent much time contemplating the world around him. He spent much of his lifetime teaching and taking part in dialogues. DogmaShow MoreRelatedPhilosophy- Platos Dialogue1542 Words   |  7 PagesPlato’s dialogue: The Gorgias, 482e-484e: The Speech of Callicles When I first began to read this passage I was a little confused at the message Callicles was sending to reader and to the philosophers of that time. As I continue to study philosophy I get the sense that most philosophers question the same thing for reason of being. The question of â€Å"why† and â€Å"what makes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is the common theme with most things I’ve come across in this course. To read a passage that was written which portrays theRead MoreThe Ilusory Dialogue In Platos Gorgias1123 Words   |  5 PagesSummary Plato’s Gorgias presents an illusory dialogue that is inaugurated upon Socrates’ analysis of nature and the power Gorgias states are presented in his art, oratory. The first two opening lines of the dialogue forecast the nature of the text, for Callicles and Socrates allude to a Greek saying that is like the Shakespearian saying, â€Å"first at a feast, last at a fray†, when Socrates and his fellow peer, Chaerophon, arrive tardily to the presentation awarded by the famed orator of the time andRead MoreCan Virtue be Taught in Platos Dialogue797 Words   |  3 Pages Plato’s dialogue Meno begins with Meno asking Socrates whether virtue can be taught. Socrates responds by saying that he does not have an answer to such question because he does not even have knowledge of what virtue is. This claim prompts Meno to provide Socrates with a definition of virtue. He explains that there are different virtues for different people dependent on their gender, age, and s ocial class (Plato 872). Socrates, however, rejects this definition because it fails to provide a singleRead MorePlatos Five Dialogues Of The Mind, Body And Body1167 Words   |  5 Pagesaspects. Dualists believe the soul and body are joined together but are two separate entities. It is understood that the soul and body are different because they have different desires and tendencies. In Five Dialogues, specifically the book Phaedo, there are many arguments that are supported by Plato’s dualistic view. Plato explains that the soul is imprisoned in the body â€Å"because every pleasure and every pain provides a nail to rivet the soul to the body† , which hindered the soul in many ways . The bodyRead More Observations on the Writing Profession in The Republic by Plato1393 Words   |  6 PagesQuestioning of the Writing Profession Plato’s The Republic For all the time today’s students spend learning to write well, Plato is skeptical of those who spend their lives crafting words. In the tenth chapter of The Republic, Socrates condemns poets as imitators. In the dialogue that bears his name, Phaedrus wonders whether words in the constructed rhythms of speech or poetry will obscure Truth, the philosopher’s ultimate goal. Speech-writing is just the clever use of rhetorical deviceRead MoreSocrates Vs. Plato s Lysis1244 Words   |  5 Pagesas Socrates does in Plato’s Lysis. In this philosophical dialogue, Socrates and his peers debate potential theories concerning the reasons why people become friends with one another. Several theories are developed, but throughout the dialogue Socrates counters his own arguments in order to achieve further understanding of his inquiry. As they deliberate the true nature of friendship, Plato’s writing parallels his teacher, Socrates’ style because it ends in perp lexity. Plato’s own ideas intermingleRead MoreImmanuel Kant : A Worthwhile Life In Platos Five Dialogues1632 Words   |  7 Pagesthrough Plato’s Five Dialogues, provides a method for examination, it is not very clear what is always right or wrong. Immanuel Kant through his work, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, expands on how to thoughtfully examine one’s decisions and decide if they have a moral foundation or not. Kant’s philosophy, while providing a more precise method of examination through his categorical imperative, requires some refining, as it falls short of Socrates’ initial method of Socratic dialogue by notRead MoreEssay about Plato’s Five Dialogues and Applications of Today’s Society 1185 Words   |  5 Pagesis not worth living† (Brisson 90). Works Cited Brisson, Luc. Plato the Myth Maker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Desjardins, Rosemary. Plato and the Good: Illuminating the Darkling Vision. New York: BRILL, 2004. Rhees, Rush. In Dialogue with the Greeks: Plato and dialectic. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004. Read MoreWhat Is the Purpose of the ‘Speech of the Laws’, in Plato’s Crito? How Is It Related to Crito’s Political Opinions and Preferences as Expressed in This Dialogue?2389 Words   |  10 Pages‘speech of the laws’, in Plato’s Crito? How is it related to Crito’s political opinions and preferences as expressed in this dialogue? The ‘speech of the laws’ as witnessed in Plato’s Crito is of utmost importance to one of Plato’s shorter dialogues and serves multiple purposes, some of which will be engaged with here. The speech will be looked in terms of its methodological purpose and will question what functions this serves. Philosophically speaking the Crito remains a dialogue concerning justiceRead MoreAn Analysis Of The Oedipus And Plato 1636 Words   |  7 PagesOEDIPUS AND PLATO’S SOCRATES In Chapter Four of his book, Tragedy and Philosophy, Walter Kaufmann claims that Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex is one of the greatest tragedies ever written in part because it presents so vividly five characteristics of human life which make our existence so tragic. The purpose of this paper will be, first, to present Kaufmann’s view and, second, to apply these same characteristics to Plato’s dialogues in general and to the characters in Plato’s dialogues, particularly