Protagoras By Plato , Stanley Lombardo

“The dialogue thus comes to an end and even seems to have been successful: Protagoras ‘managed to convince’ Socrates that he can teach arete, Socrates ‘led’ Protagoras ‘to admit’ that one acts well through wisdom. However, this apparent reconciliation raises a new and redoubled problem. The objections of each to the opposing thesis end up conflicting with their own theses. On the one hand, Protagoras, who claims to be able to teach arete, is reluctant to identify it with knowledge—after all, the only thing that can be taught; on the other hand, Socrates, who doubts the viability of its teaching, insists on maintaining that it is knowledge. Faced with this confusion of conclusions, it is Socrates himself who suggests that the matter be revisited from the beginning, first to find out what arete is, and second, how it is acquired.” – from the Introduction.