The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

67 Dialectic
See 531c-535a. All these mathematical studies “are merely preludes to the theme
itself,” the art of philosophical conversation, or “dialectic,” a form of “inquiry that
tries to acquire a systematic and wholly general grasp of what each thing itself is,”
and attempts to do this by means of “discussion and apart from sense perceptions.”
It is a simple enough activity as Socrates describes it: give “an account of the
being of each thing,” and then “survive all examination, as if in battle.” As a
description of philosophical conversation, this is like saying that playing the piano
is sitting down and pushing the keys in the right order. Still, it characterizes at the
most basic level what philosophical conversation has been from Plato’s time down
to our own. Its elements are question, answer, objection, and reply. Not all
philosophers over the centuries have agreed that forms exist, and not all have
made a point of presenting their philosophical reflections dialectically, but these
elements – question, answer, objection, and reply – remain essential to the kind of
probing, critical thinking characteristic of what philosophers do.
If the account of a form – say, the form of justice – is examined dialectically
and remains unrefuted, is there reason to suppose it is true?
Is there a better way than dialectical inquiry to determine what it is for a
human being to be just? Is there any other way?
Does dialectic require working with other people or is it something that can
be done alone?
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