THE “OPEN” SOCRATIC DIALOGUE AND THE MAGIC OF ITS HEYDAY

Abstract

This paper will offer an overview of, and some conjectures upon, the probable collective force of the transformations of the philosophical scene that took place in Athens soon after Socrates' trial and death. It will be argued that the new way of doing philosophy, devised by the Socratics, was in fact antipodal to the traditional offerings of doctrines and theories openly endorsed by existing authors, and is therefore to be carefully distinguished from the dialogues where new bodies of doctrine happen to be openly professed. Because of the invention of the "open" Socratic dialogue, the philosophical community of Athens very likely underwent a first-order "velvet revolution", especially during the crucial years when Plato's identity as a writer and thinker was being set in place.