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Symposium (Συμπόσιον)

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a Greek drinking party

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Plato's Symposium is about giving speeches

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Alcibiades [al-si-BIGH-i-deez]

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last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae [Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι]

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gives a speech about how great Socrates is

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Socrates is a great man, but it's hard to say what makes him great

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1. you can't compare him to anyone

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as you can do with great warriors or politician

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strong as Hercules

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shrewd as Odysseus

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wise as Nestor

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as great a warrior as Achilles

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but Socrates breaks every mold

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2. Socrates is annoying in a way that makes him seem incompatible with being great

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yet you reach a point where no other kind of argument makes since, it's Socrates kind of argument or nothing

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Socrates is like

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Silenus

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a satyr or half divine being that hangs around with Satyrs

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a favorable comparison

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handsome Dionysus and Silenus went together

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often on vases, Silenus on outside, Dionysus on inside, or on either side

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Marsyas [Μαρσύας]

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a satyr

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challenged the god Apollo to a music contest

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lost, and was flayed for his impudence

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an unfavorable comparison

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Socratic arguments are crude by design

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a feature, not a bug

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at some point, you realize there is no other kind of argumentation, this is it

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the argument

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Euthyphro thinks his father is guilty of murder

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Socrates answers by asking for the definition of holiness

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he wants to not know what words mean but what things truly are

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the difference is not totally clear

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if it sometimes makes sense to demand precision of definitions, why doesn't it always make sense?

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at the end Euthyphro runs off

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Plato ends his dialogue in this unhelpful way

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suggests Euthyphro hasn't learned anything

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poses the question: what is the use of Socratic argumentation if it doesn't directly teach people something