It is always said that Plato sometimes put his words in the Socrates's mouth. Aristotle is the contemporary and critic of Plato. If Plato misattributed some Platonian notions to Socrates, Aristotle was the best one to expose him. Did Aristotle somewhere accuse Plato of distorting Socrates?
-
No. Aristotle was not even born at the time of Socrates's death, and spent formative years at Plato's Academy, so he was not in a position to detect Plato's distortions, if any. Some historians complain that "Aristotle's testimony is completely dependent on Plato, for his interpretations of Socrates are based on Platonic dialogues", and it is largely discarded by those trying to reconstruct Socrates's views, see Graham, Socrates and Plato.– ConifoldNov 7, 2021 at 0:28
-
1Aristotle was not born at the time of Parmenides or Heraclitus, too. But he reports their ideas which are not always included in Plato's dialogues.– user39613Nov 7, 2021 at 0:39
-
The difference is that those authors left books which were still accessible in Aristotle's time. Socrates did not, what Aristotle and others knew of him was word of mouth. And what Aristotle does report is transparently derived from Plato's dialogues, in scholars' opinion.– ConifoldNov 7, 2021 at 0:42
-
2You are right about the difference. But Aristotle arguably encountered many persons in Academy or other places who had seen Socrates. His sources on Socrates could not be limited to Plato.– user39613Nov 7, 2021 at 0:58
-
Whatever his sources and reasons for accepting Plato's account could be, his texts that came down to us do not have what you are looking for.– ConifoldNov 7, 2021 at 1:01
|
Show 1 more comment