ABSTRACT
As it stands, this hardly carries conviction, and has commonly been felt to fly in the face of the facts (see, e.g., Lemmon 1962). In what follows I shall first concentrate on expounding Socrates’ views in this passage in so far as they bear on the possibility of deliberate wrongdoing, with some indication of his arguments. It will still seem pretty implausible. I shall then, in the next chapter, try to make it sound a more attractive position, partly by illustrating how Socrates could deal with apparent counter-examples, and partly by showing how he could challenge his opponents to produce a coherent alternative. At this point it should be easier to assess the extent to which Socrates’ position is open to effective criticism, and the exteftt to which he has raised a genuine problem.
