Did the Socratic dialogues actually happen?

5 Answers. Both of the answers are correct to point out that the dialogues are fictitious. It is extremely unlikely any section of any length is a transcript of an actual conversation between Socrates and anyone.

Did Plato write everything about Socrates?

The Relationship Between Socrates and Plato Socrates himself wrote–so far as we know–nothing. Plato (427 to 347 B.C.E) is especially important to our understanding of the trial of Socrates because he, along with Xenophon, wrote the only two surviving accounts of the defense (or apology) of Socrates.

Did Plato actually write the republic?

The Republic (Greek: Πολιτεία, translit. Politeia; Latin: De Republica) is a Socratic dialogue, authored by Plato around 375 BC, concerning justice (δικαιοσύνη), the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man. The dialogue’s setting seems to be during the Peloponnesian War.

Who is talking in Plato’s Republic?

teacher Socrates
In The Republic, Plato, speaking through his teacher Socrates, sets out to answer two questions.

Did Plato write the republic after Socrates died?

Plato’s dialogues are classed into early, middle, and late periods. The early dialogues, written soon after Socrates’s death, provide the nearest portrayal of what Socrates’s philosophy might have been. In these dialogues, Plato focuses almost exclusively on ethical questions, using the Socratic method of elenchus.

Who does Socrates talk to in the republic?

Book I. Socrates and Glaucon visit the Piraeus to attend a festival in honor of the Thracian goddess Bendis (327a). They are led to Polemarchus’ house (328b). Socrates speaks to Cephalus about old age, the benefits of being wealthy, and justice (328e-331d).

What do we know about Socrates from Plato’s dialogues?

A more important thing to notice is that Plato’s Socrates often functions as a mouthpiece for Plato and does not necessarily say what Socrates would have said. In Plato scholarship, dialogues are divided into early, middle, and late. Early dialogues.

Are Plato’s dialogues historically accurate?

Even though Plato’s dialogues are not strictly historically accurate, however, I must stress that Socrates was definitely a real person. Plato did not just make Socrates up.

Who was the first person to know Socrates?

Our earliest extant source—and the only one who can claim to have known Socrates in his early years—is the playwright Aristophanes. His comedy, Clouds, was produced in 423 when the other two writers of our extant sources, Xenophon and Plato, were infants.

Is Socrates a real person?

Socrates is also spoken of as having been a real person by the philosopher Aristotle of Stageira (lived 384 – 322 BC). Aristotle was not a contemporary of Socrates, but he was a student of Plato. If Plato had just made Socrates up, then Aristotle certainly would have known.