WHAT SOCRATES LEARNED FROM PARMENIDES. PART 2. HYPOTHESIS, ANTILOGY, AND PHILOSOPHICAL SELF-DEFENSE IN THE PHAEDO
WHAT SOCRATES LEARNED FROM PARMENIDES. PART 2. HYPOTHESIS, ANTILOGY, AND PHILOSOPHICAL SELF-DEFENSE IN THE PHAEDO

Summary/Abstract: My first study identified the cognitiveabilities and argumentative skills developed by thegymnasia presented in Plato’s Parmenides. Since thecorrespondence with the intellectual virtues Socratesdisplays in other dialogues is too remarkable to be acoincidence, I concluded that Socrates must havetrained with Parmenides’ eightfold routine in hisyouth. My second study supports this conclusion bydrawing attention to textual evidence found in thePhaedo. The autobiographical account Socrates sharesin that dialogue indicates how the gymnasia impactedhis intellectual development, mostly through the actionof hypothesizing. This strategic move used by theEleatics transformed the originally sectarian way So-crates related to Forms and enabled him to protect histheory from attacks in a secure yet non-dogmatic way.

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