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Single Idea 20478

[filed under theme 2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 2. Elenchus ]

Full Idea

They collect someone's opinions together during the discussion, put them side by side, and show that they conflict with each other at the same time on the same subjects.... The person sees this, gets angry at themselves, and calmer towards others.

Gist of Idea

In discussion a person's opinions are shown to be in conflict, leading to calm self-criticism

Source

Plato (The Sophist [c.358 BCE], 230b)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.250

A Reaction

He goes on to say that the process is like a doctor purging a patient of internal harms. If anyone talks for long enough (even a good philosopher), their opinions will probably be seen to be in conflict. But which opinions do you abandon?

The 17 ideas from 'The Sophist'

1636 Wickedness is an illness of the soul [Plato]
1637 A soul without understanding is ugly [Plato]
1638 Didactic education is hard work and achieves little [Plato]
20478 In discussion a person's opinions are shown to be in conflict, leading to calm self-criticism [Plato]
11278 What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato]
1641 Some alarming thinkers think that only things which you can touch exist [Plato]
7022 To be is to have a capacity, to act on other things, or to receive actions [Plato]
24280 Changing things and change itself are part of being, since it has life and mind [Plato]
1642 We must fight fiercely for knowledge, understanding and intelligence [Plato]
1643 If statements about non-existence are logically puzzling, so are statements about existence [Plato]
16122 Good thinkers spot forms spread through things, or included within some larger form [Plato]
24281 We divide things into kinds by expert dialectic [Plato]
1644 Dialectic should only be taught to those who already philosophise well [Plato]
10422 The not-beautiful is part of the beautiful, though opposed to it, and is just as real [Plato]
15855 If we see everything as separate, we can then give no account of it [Plato]
1645 The desire to split everything into its parts is unpleasant and unphilosophical [Plato]
10784 Whenever there's speech it has to be about something [Plato]