Abstract

Based on the ostensible fact that truly Socratic dialogue entails a considerable inequality between participants, Parens explores Socrates’s reasons for conversing dialectically with those who are manifestly his philosophic inferiors. Contrary to many Plato scholars who emphasize Socrates’s self-reported ignorance and, hence, the “Sisyphean” character of his philosophic activity, Parens intends to show—with the help of Maimonides—that Socrates is an “overflowing” philosopher, who cannot help but share his wisdom with others.