Intimations of Socratic Philosophy. Exploring the Apocryphal Dialogue

This essay providers an analysis of the apocryphal “Platonic” dialogue On Justice and develops a unique notion of Socratic philosophy that is present within this ancient example of Sokratikoi Logoi but requires elucidation. It unfolds in three main sections focused on: (1) Dialectic as an example of a “speech-act,” where the use of words “commits” Socrates and his interlocutors to the task of developing an ethical soul in and through reasoned discourse; (2) Socrates’ embrace of a form of ethics termed “practical-and-contextual ethics, as related to eudaimonic ethics, which reveals that unlike “action-based” ethics, Socratic ethics is concerned with ethical behavior within specific and unique contexts and situations, indeed, in great part, the many situations within Socrates finds himself actually guide and direct his ethical behavior - the deliberation concerning the virtuous choices made at the appropriate or right time; and (3) The question concerning how ignorance is related to the ethical choices made in praxis, and it is argued that following Socrates, ethical decisions are indeed possible despite lacking a full and complete knowledge of virtue or the virtues such as courage, temperance, piety, wisdom, or as related to the apocryphal dialogue, “justice.” Ultimately, the analysis seeks to offer the reader an intimation of what an authentic notion of Socratic philosophy might look like despite the Platonic inauthenticity of the source material

Economic Justice · Epistemology · Political science · Socratic method · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Law · Philosophy