Protagoras
1976
Socrates is dragged from his bed one night by the desperate young Hippocrates, who believes he's found the answer to his ambitions: Protagoras, the most famous teacher in Greece. What follows is a legendary philosophical showdown. Protagoras claims to teach the art of becoming a good citizen, to transform young men into leaders through knowledge and rhetoric. Socrates, suspicious and incisive, subjects these claims to relentless scrutiny. Is virtue something that can be taught, or does it arise from some inexplicable excellence of character? Can the Sophists really claim to sell wisdom, or are they merely skilled at making arguments sound convincing? The dialogue crackles with intellectual tension as Protagoras defends his profession against accusations of charlatanism, while Socrates probes deeper: What is virtue actually? Is the good simply what brings pleasure? And crucially, if we know what's right, why do we ever do wrong? Plato's dialogue remains startlingly relevant, a vivid dramatization of philosophy confronting rhetoric, and an endlessly provocative inquiry into how we learn to live well.
