Plato's hypothetical dialectic
In the Platonic exegesis, the topic of 'hypothesis and dialectic' has been covered by the works of many scholars, although, compared to some other topics, it has not been overinterpreted. To the best of my knowledge, however, there is only one book that deals extensively and systematically with it - Richard Robinson's Plato's Earlier Dialectic (Oxford, 1953). This one book of Robinson has remained, according to many Plato scholars, unsurpassed as to the punctiliousness with which its author describes the formal structure of Plato's hypothetical methodology; that is why most of those who have dealt with this topic tended to take Robinson's book as the ultimate authority on the matter. Yet there is an aspect of this topic that Robinson (and, as far as I know, all the other scholars that wrote on it) explored less: the relation between Plato's hypothetical methodology and the Platonic metaphysics. This relation is the actual subject of my research. Now my research has two main claims (which are actually exegetical claims). (1) Whether with disappointment or with relief (to use Ryle's 1966, 17 phrase), we have to recognize that Plato's dialogues unfold a philosophical search rather than a metaphysical system.
Partenie, Catalin D.
Platonism; Socratism; Platonic exegesis
Plato's hypothetical dialectic. In the Platonic exegesis, the topic of 'hypothesis and dialectic' has been covered by the works of many scholars, although, compared to some other topics, it has not been overinterpreted. To the best of my knowledge, however, there is only one book that deals extensively and systematically with it - Richard Robinson's Plato's Earlier Dialectic (Oxford, 1953). This one book of Robinson has remained, according to many Plato scholars, unsurpassed as to the punctiliousness with which its author describes the formal structure of Plato's hypothetical methodology; that is why most of those who have dealt with this topic tended to take Robinson's book as the ultimate authority on the matter. Yet there is an aspect of this topic that Robinson (and, as far as I know, all the other scholars that wrote on it) explored less: the relation between Plato's hypothetical methodology and the Platonic metaphysics. This relation is the actual subject of my research. Now my research has two main claims (which are actually exegetical claims). (1) Whether with disappointment or with relief (to use Ryle's 1966, 17 phrase), we have to recognize that Plato's dialogues unfold a philosophical search rather than a metaphysical system.
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