Loyola University Chicago

Department of Philosophy

PHIL 401: Plato

Catalog Description

This course treats either the early, middle or late dialogues of Plato. In certain cases, Socrates' relation to Plato may be examined.


PHIL 401: Plato

Dr. Mark Waymack

The theme for this seminar on Plato will be Plato's attempts to characterize who/what the "philosopher" is. The philosopher is neither the sophist, nor the rhetorician. Not the lawyer, nor the mathematician. Neither the comedian nor the tragedian. So who (or what) exactly is the philosopher? And, by extension, what does it mean to "do philosophy"?

We will be reading parts of the Phaedrus, and all of Apology, Protagoras, Gorgias, Symposium, Republic, and Theaetetus. We may glance at passages from the Parmenides, the Statesman, and the Sophist.