Socrates 'Seduction Of Alcibiades Protagoras'

In Protagoras, at first, the preliminary scenes appear to have little in common with the dialogue. However, they introduce the basic themes of the Protagoras. That Socrates is distracted from his seduction of Alcibiades creates an opportunity (an opening in, or a cessation of, his desire) in which philosophy can take root. Philosophical thought, therefore, requires the adoption of a different attitude to everyday concerns, and must even displace these concerns—Alcibiades's attractiveness, for instance—to some degree. Socrates's abrupt awakening constitutes another such displacement. If Socrates is unperturbed about having his sleep disrupted, this is because it is precisely awakening that is here in question: Hippocrates wishes to be awoken to wisdom, but how should this best be accomplished? Socrates springs out of bed in his eagerness to assist Hippocrates in his search, and in doing so, he also acts as a guide for the reader in answering

While the explicit topics the two discuss (to whom should one entrust one's education, what is the value and nature of the skill that the Sophists teach) are central themes for the dialogue as a whole, the form of this discussion is more important than any conclusions that Socrates and Hippocrates manage to draw. Indeed, Socrates succeeds only in unsettling Hippocrates's unexamined belief that he can buy from Protagoras what he needs. As Socrates reveals, what he needs, and whether Protagoras can sell it, are crucial questions that Hippocrates has failed to consider. The explicit philosophical limit of this section is reached with, the mode of further investigation has already been established: the effectiveness of Socrates's dialectic (his question and answer method of reasoning) in unveiling unconsidered premises and fallacious arguments has been made clear. The dialectic, it appears, will somehow awaken us to