Abstract

Goldberg regards the Protagoras as "an artistic whole" intended to invite and direct an inquiry associated with, but deeper than, that dramatized in the dialogue itself. Accordingly he investigates not only the theme of virtue's teachability but also, for example, the difference between the sophist Protagoras and the philosopher Socrates, and the relation of each to Athens in particular, and to political society in general. Goldberg does not try to reconstruct the position of the historical Protagoras. Nor does he try to elicit from the Protagoras Plato's moral theory at the time. Nor is his principal intention to present another in the series of essays on Prt 329-33 or 349-60. Debates with other commentators are confined to end-notes. There is a select bibliography, but no index.