The dialogue revolves around the nature of knowledge and reality. Socrates engages with a young nobleman, who claims to possess knowledge about beauty. Socrates challenges this claim through a series of questions, ultimately concluding that true knowledge cannot be acquired through sense experience or opinion. The discussion centers on the distinction between appearance and reality, with Socrates arguing that only the latter is truly knowable.
By Plato · First published 387 · Genre: Philosophical Dialogue, Socratic Dialogue, Ethics