Plato’s Theaetetus: Projected Inquiry and Epistemology

• In Event: Educational Reponses to Epistemological Issues

Abstract

This paper argues that Plato’s Theaetetus offers a unique opportunity for students of education to consider epistemology in ways that importantly change the meaning of “student” and “teacher.” Specifically, I argue that the dialogue’s characters—Theodorus, Theaetetus, Protagoras, and Socrates—perform particular functions that not only reveal competing philosophies of education but templates of and for the students themselves. As a reading, Theaetetus provides a noteworthy means through which students not only read and think about elenchus (refutation) and aporia (perplexity) but experience it as participants in interlocution.

Author

• Deron R. Boyles, Georgia State University