Plato vs Socrates
Socrates wrote nothing; everything we know about his views comes from others, chiefly Plato. The relation between the historical Socrates and Plato's literary Socrates is one of philosophy's most contested interpretive questions.
At a glance
| Plato | Socrates | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | 428 BC – 348 BC | 470 BC – 399 BC |
| Nationality | Greek | Greek |
| Era | Ancient | Ancient |
| Movements | Platonism, Ancient Greek Philosophy | Ancient Greek Philosophy |
| Profile | Plato → | Socrates → |
Where they agree
Both treated philosophical inquiry as a way of life concerned with knowledge of the good and the cultivation of virtue, both insisted that the unexamined life is not worth living, and both held that genuine knowledge yields right action. Both rejected the rhetorical and persuasion-based ethics of the sophists.
Where they disagree
The central question is how much of Plato's Socrates is Plato. Most scholars agree that the doctrine of Forms, the tripartite soul, and the philosophical politics of the Republic are Plato's developments, while the elenchic method, the priority of definition, and the disclaimer of knowledge belong to the historical Socrates. Plato moves from Socratic ethical inquiry to a systematic metaphysics, ethics, and politics that the historical Socrates almost certainly did not hold.
Representative quotes
Plato
-
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
The beginning in every task is the chief thing. -
“Philosophy begins in wonder.”
155d, The Dialogues of Plato , Volume 3, 1871, p. 377 -
“I shall assume that your silence gives consent .”
435b
Socrates
-
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
Variant: The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. | Socrates II: xxxi . Original Greek: ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν -
“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
Plato, Phaedo 115e -
“I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed ... from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty.”
Plato , Symposium , 175d
Continue reading
- Full profile: Plato
- Full profile: Socrates
- Shared movements: Ancient Greek Philosophy
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