DIALECTICS OF TEACHING/LEARNING THE VIRTUE IN PLATO’S <em>PROTAGORAS</em>

Abstract

The fate of the dialogue Protagoras is such that it has been mostly put away ad acta with laconic comment that it represents Plato’s „negative dialectic“. Author focuses on the attempt of an integral interpretation of this dialogue, which might shed some light on the thesis of negative dialectic as its crucial characteristic. The fundamental aim of the paper is to give an answer to a question why is the result of the dialogue a negative one, i.e. on what assumption underlying the basic constelation of the problem is based the paradoxical „side-changing“, which can’t yield the ultimate solution of the problem of teaching/learning the virtue. The answer to a pointed question can be found in the proton pseudos of the problem: the inadequate conotation of teaching/learning itself. Plato is trying to incorporate theoretical notion of teaching/learning into the practical process of forming the moral character, which consequently leads to a negative result of the dialogue.