POLS 320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Techne, Thrasymachus, Socratic Method
6 Oct 2020
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Criticism of socratic elenchus: socratic inquiry relies uncritically on our own intuitive beliefs as raw data". This is especially worrisome when investigating concepts like justice: People"s beliefs may be programmed into us by those more powerful than us. Beliefs may be manufactured" so as to power not their own interests, but the interests of the powerful. Socratic method is shown to be radically incomplete: it doesn"t help us arrive at truth. It simply helps us identify inconsistencies in the beliefs we already have. I. 338c: i say justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger. I. 338e-39a: justice is the same in all cities". No independent standard to evaluate or measure justice. (think back to the similar worry about piety" in euthyphro) - arbitrariness. Critical assumption: rulers always favor their own private interest, rather than the interest of those who are ruled.
