Plato's Dialectical Cut in Socrates' Soul in The Being of the Beautiful

Plato's Dialectical Cut in Socrates' Soul in The Being of the Beautiful

Within the spectrum of the political realm, one of the most

important philosophical questions arises, "What is the best regime?" It is

obvious that the best regime is one of complied consent. There still seems

to be difficulty in deciding the best means to the desired end. Politics,

the ruling force, operates in the realm of opinions. Its counterpart,

philosophy, is an attempt to replace opinions about political things. This

"political science" is the process of acquiring political knowledge for the

guiding of political life. The transformation from opinions to knowledge

is through the dialectic method. This "political science" is not without

its problems. It is plagued by relativism and nihilism. These problems

tend to make politics unreceptive to philosophy. What philosophy is is

best seen in a confrontation between the philosopher and the city. It is by

no small coincidence that these two conflicting views are seen in different

characters in The Being of the Beautiful. The obvious question now becomes

"Why does Plato make a dialectical cut in Socrates' soul between Theaetetus

and Young Socrates?"

In answering this question it becomes central to

assume that the being of the beautiful is not contained in one character,

and for that matter, may not be a character at all. It is crucial then to

take up the characteristics of both Theaetetus and Young Socrates in

relation to what the beautiful is. In so doing, it will provide the basis

for political knowledge. To begin, Theaetetus is a youth just returned from

battle. War, being the harshest of all teachers places one under the duress

of necessity. This is a fo...

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...nd this. He

says that "all has been said in a measured way... but this is hard to take

in" (Statesman, 293e). The Stranger explains that the rule of law is for

one class and is corrupt, imperfect and seditionary. Through the

questioning of the laws, the foundations of the one are seen. Politics and

philosophy are not natural enemies. Both Theaetetus and Young Socrates

understand the ideas to some extent. The goal now is to make each receptive

to the other. Both make distinctions between men and gods. They can each

understand the concept that something merely "is". Within each character

separately a vice is seen but when combined dialectically, the possibility

of a true political philosophy is possible. Perhaps Socrates sees in both

of them the idea of the philosopher and he wants to see it generated as

proof of a permanent condition of human nature.