Dialectic Method, Definition, and Value in Plato’s Sophist

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/2965-1557.038.e202632970

Keywords:

Dialectic Method, Definition, Value, Sophist , Plato

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the different passages of the Sophist that, although not dealing directly with the Good, can, however, hint at some aspects of Plato’s conception of value. In this regard, I mainly concentrate on the dialectic as practised in this dialogue and on the definitions offered of the figure of the sophist. In contrast to some Platonist scholars that have held that the Stranger’s method, unlike the Socratic practice of philosophy, does not discriminate the better from the worse, but only like from like, and, accordingly, that the dialectic method, as used in the Sophist, is a method of a neutral, aseptic character, I try to show that the dialectic and the definitions of the sophist have a notable evaluative charge.

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Author Biography

Begoña Ramón Cámara, University of Murcia

Begoña Ramón Cámara is an assistant professor of philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the Universidad de Murcia. She previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Universitat de València, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and the Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia. She obtained her PhD in Philosophy from the Universitat de València and the Université Paris X with the dissertation Bien y principio en Platón / Bien et principe chez Platon supervised by Profs. Tomás Calvo Martínez and Francis Wolff. She has enjoyed research stays at the Sapienza Università di Roma, the École normale supérieure in Paris, Cambridge University, Università degli Studi di Padova, and the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz. She was trained in Philosophy at the Universitat de València and the École normale supérieure in Paris. Her main fields of research are Wittgenstein’s philosophy, the history of ancient philosophy, and the reception of ancient philosophy in contemporary thought (with particular attention to the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche), fields on which she has published widely.

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Published

2026-04-22

How to Cite

Ramón Cámara, B. (2026). Dialectic Method, Definition, and Value in Plato’s Sophist. Revista De Filosofia Aurora, 38, e202632970. https://doi.org/10.1590/2965-1557.038.e202632970

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Continuous Flow