POL 2107 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cephalus, Seventh Letter, Thrasymachus

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 2107
• Professor: Sophie Bourgault

Document Summary

*formative events: regime of the 30 tyrants; so(cid:272)rates" death; tra(cid:448)el; (cid:449)ar. The significance of the dialogue form (what difference does it make that the republic is written as a dialogue rather than a treatise?) Dialogues allow you to inject meaning into the drama of the book itself: meaning within the choice of which character says what, example: plato decides to put the realist thesis in the mouth of a sophist, Thrasymachus, with a very harsh view of politics: portrays him as a tough, angry man and emphasises these details, plato tries to convince you not to embrace his view on politi(cid:272)s, (cid:271)ut o(cid:272)rates(cid:859) Pedagogical value added for the reader because they are forced to follow a sometimes complicated question and answer format. Plato is able to hide behind his characters and not give his own view: ambiguity for some is a good thing.