Abstract

The above topics are treated with a parallel discussion of the most important interpretations of scholars, mainly of the last twenty or thirty years, at every step of the argument. ;The study of the previously mentioned themes reveals that there is important philosophical material in this early Platonic work. More specifically, it leads to the conclusion, building from the dialogue itself, that the Laches is not meant to give an answer to the question "what is courage" in the form of a fully formulated definition, but rather to offer, albeit indirectly, a number of complex and philosophically relevant suggestions related to this question. Simultaneously, it becomes evident that the author tries to show the insufficiency of the approach to the subject of courage given in this dialogue. By the above considerations the reader is able to gain insights into and clues toward a positive understanding of Plato's concept of virtue and courage. ;In the course of the study of the sections of the dialogue from various viewpoints, a number of themes are treated, among which are the following in order of their occurrence: questions related to the problem of education at Athens of the 420's; discussion of some basic dialectical principles by Socrates; relation of means and end; qualifications of advisors on educational matters; transition from the definition of virtue as a whole to that of courage; the question of the dialogue's long introduction; distinction of real from technical knowledge and of courage from boldness; relation of courage and wisdom; hint of a higher knowledge of the good; the dialogue's aporetic end; relation of "part" and "whole." Finally, an attempt is made to compare some of the arguments found in the Laches to similar ones in other Platonic dialogues; subsequently, the results of this study are chiefly related to the subject of the unity of virtue in Plato. ;In regard to method the dissertation is an attempt to try out and justify the hypothesis that the form of a dialogue is inseparable from its content. ;The work is divided into three chapters. The first chapter introduces some of the questions raised by the Laches as one of the "early" Platonic dialogues, and gives a brief critical outline of the main types of publications devoted to this dialogue aiming to justify the need for a new exhaustive interpretation. The same chapter offers brief preliminary information concerning the place of the Laches in the Platonic corpus, and introduces the dialogue's dramatic setting, date and characters. The second chapter is a detailed analysis of the dialogue's introductory sections, which lead to the philosophical inquiry about the nature of courage. The third chapter covers the two attempts at a definition of this individual virtue by the two main interlocutors of Socrates and the refutation of these definitions. ;The object of this study is to provide a detailed interpretation of Plato's Laches