Socratic Wisdom The Model of Knowledge in Plato's Early Dialogues [Hardcover]

While the early Platonic dialogues have often been explored and appreciated for their ethical content, this is the first book devoted solely to the epistemology of Plato's early dialogues. Author Hugh H. Benson argues that the characteristic features of these dialogues--Socrates' method of questions and answers (elenchos), his fascination with definition, his professions of ignorance, and his thesis that virtue is knowledge--are decidedly epistemological. In this thoughtful study, Benson uncovers the model of knowledge that underlies these distinctively Socratic views. What emerges is unfamiliar, yet closer to a contemporary conception of scientific understanding than ordinary knowledge.

Introduction
Chapter 1:. Socrates, The Epistemologist
Part I: The SocraticElenchos
Chapter 2:. The Aims of theElenchos
Chapter 3:. The Problem ofElenchos
Chapter 4:. The Dissolution of the Problem of theElenchos
Part II: Socratic Definition
Chapter 5:. The What is F-ness? Question and Socratic Definition
Chapter 6:. The Priority of Definitional Knowledge
Chapter 7:. The Sufficiency of Definitional Knowledge
Part III: Socratic Knowledge
Chapter 8:. Socratic Ignorance
Chapter 9:. A Socratic Theory of Knowledge
Chapter 10:. Knowledge, Virtue, and Other Problems
Chapter 11:. Meno, the Slave-Boy, and Plato
Bibliography
Index