3 h 8 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Can someone teach you to be good—and how do you know whom to trust with your mind?
Before dawn, young Hippocrates bangs on Socrates’ door. Protagoras, the admired teacher, is in town, and Hippocrates wants to meet him. At the crowded house of Callias, excitement gives way to a harder question: can goodness be taught? Socrates presses Protagoras to explain what he offers his pupils, and what makes him able to teach it.
In Plato’s dialogue, philosophy comes alive through jokes, sharp portraits and a conversation that nearly breaks down. Protagoras favors long speeches; Socrates wants short answers. Their debate reaches from justice and courage to pleasure and knowledge. Behind each exchange lies a practical concern: what must people understand if they hope to act well, rather than merely speak with confidence?
What you’ll discover
- A teacher worth questioning Follow Socrates as he tests what Protagoras means by teaching people to be good citizens.
- A myth of human beginnings Explore Protagoras’ tale of living things, and why justice and shame belong to everyone.
- The many faces of virtue Ask whether courage, wisdom and justice are separate qualities or parts of one whole.
- An argument under strain Watch clashing styles threaten the discussion, then encounter a playful reading of a poem.
- Knowledge behind our choices Consider the bold claim that wrong action comes from a mistake in knowledge.
Is it for you?
This is for anyone curious about education, ethics and how to argue well, and for first-time readers of Plato who want a dialogue with plenty of action. It may suit you less if you want a single settled doctrine at the end.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Be careful what you buy for your mind
- Protagoras says he teaches citizenship
- A myth: justice and shame belong to everyone
- Is virtue one thing or many?
- How to argue, and what a poem means
- Knowledge, pleasure and a surprising reversal
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Language: Italiano
“tutta la storia della filosofia occidentale non è che una serie di note a margine su Platone”
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Be careful what you buy for your mind
The dialogue opens in the dark. A young man named Hippocrates bangs on Socrates' door before dawn with news that Protagoras is in town. He is burning to become his student, and he wants Socrates to introduce him.
Socrates does not say no. He asks a question instead. If you went to a doctor or a sculptor for lessons, you would expect to become a doctor or a sculptor. So what will Hippocrates become if he studies with Protagoras? Hippocrates blushes, and the best he can say is that he will become a clever speaker. Socrates presses him to name the subject of that cleverness, and Hippocrates cannot.
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What is Plato's Protagoras about?
It is about whether virtue can be taught. Socrates and the sophist Protagoras debate this at a gathering in Athens, and the talk widens to ask whether the virtues are one thing and whether wrongdoing is a failure of knowledge.
Who is Protagoras in the dialogue?
Protagoras was a real teacher from Abdera, one of the best-known sophists, who traveled Greece and taught for pay. In the dialogue he claims to teach political skill and good citizenship, and he is a worthy opponent for Socrates.
What is the myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus in Protagoras?
Protagoras tells it to show that virtue can be taught. Humans are left unprotected, Prometheus gives them fire and craft skill, and Zeus sends justice and shame to everyone, so all can share in political life.
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