WHAT SOCRATES LEARNED FROM PARMENIDES. PART 1. PARMENIDES’ GYMNASIA AND SOCRATES’ INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES
WHAT SOCRATES LEARNED FROM PARMENIDES. PART 1. PARMENIDES’ GYMNASIA AND SOCRATES’ INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES

Summary/Abstract: This is the first of two studies in which Iexamine Plato’s account of Parmenides’ contributionto Socrates’ education. This account suggests, I argue,that Socrates became a virtuoso of the elenchos and theembodiment of fundamental intellectual virtues thanksto the gymnasia depicted in the Parmenides. I showhow Parmenides’ eightfold routine is not a method ofphilosophical investigation strictly speaking; rather, itis a skill-building exercise that relies on memory andwhose virtue is partly defensive. My demonstration isbased on three sets of distinctions required to do justiceto the preparatory character of Parmenides’ gymnasia.The first differentiates three types of intellectualvirtues, the second two kinds of training methods, andthe third, three telic modes.

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