Abstract

Plato's Charmides, Laches and Lysis are defined as aporetic in that the investigations conducted by the dramatis personae within these texts are governed by the question, What-is-F?, and by the end of the investigations the interlocutors have failed to reach a mutually satisfactory definition of F. The aim of this study is to explain why Plato composed the Charmides, Laches and Lysis as aporetic. This study suggests that Plato's composition of the Charmides, Laches and Lysis as aporetic was a dramaturgical decision, which was neither influenced by Plato's epistemological position, nor Plato's reluctance to explicitly defend his philosophical beliefs in writing. Rather, the aporiae of these texts owe to Plato's interest in composing dramas that demonstrate the difficulty and a challenge of the philosophical enterprise in an environment dominated by counter-philosophical beliefs and practices. The aporiae in the Charmides, Laches and Lysis result from the conflict of philosophical and counter-philosophical beliefs and practices. By composing the Charmides, Laches and Lysis as aporetic in this way, Plato attempted to impress upon his readership the difficulties of the philosophical enterprise