Dialectic in Action: An Examination of Plato's Crito

By Michael C. Stokes

Plato's Crito examines a single moral decision, whether Socrates ought to escape from his death-cell. Stokes' book discusses Socrates' arguments against Crito's offer of escape. It construes Socrates' questions as genuine questions, which clarify and undermine Crito's positions. Stokes's approach avoids the 'documentary fallacy'; it shows how Plato catered for both the novice and the experienced reader of his published works. This book offers a fresh account of Socrates' whole strategy. It demonstrates both the shakiness of Socrates' persuasion of the un-philosophical Crito to engage in dialectic, and the coherence of his substantive confutation. Plato's reasoning emerges from Stokes' study with more credit than many have given it.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0954384598
• ISBN13: 9780954384593
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Classical Press of Wales
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"