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Full Idea
To confine, as Plato does in 'Republic' IV-VII, moral inquiry to a tiny elite, is to obliterate the Socratic vision which opens up the philosophic life to all.
Gist of Idea
Socrates opened philosophy to all, but Plato confined moral enquiry to a tiny elite
Source
comment on Socrates (reports of career [c.420 BCE]) by Gregory Vlastos - Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher p.18
Book Ref
Vlastos,Gregory: 'Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher' [CUP 1992], p.18
A Reaction
This doesn't mean that Plato is necessarily 'elitist'. It isn't elitist to point out that an activity is very difficult.
1649 | Socrates opened philosophy to all, but Plato confined moral enquiry to a tiny elite [Vlastos on Socrates] |
1749 | If all laws were abolished, philosophers would still live as they do now [Aristippus elder] |
559 | Even people who go astray in their opinions have contributed something useful [Aristotle] |
15624 | Free thinking has no presuppositions [Hegel] |
19227 | Philosophy is a search for real truth [Peirce] |
14862 | Philosophy is more valuable than much of science, because of its beauty [Nietzsche] |
8226 | A well-posed problem is a problem solved [Bergson, by Deleuze/Guattari] |
2944 | If a question can be framed at all, it is also possible to answer it [Wittgenstein] |
9763 | For a good theory of the world, we must focus on our flabby foundational vocabulary [Quine] |
9198 | It is no longer possible to be a sage, but we can practice the exercise of wisdom [Hadot] |
9408 | Science studies phenomena, but only metaphysics tells us what exists [Mumford] |