Socrates distinguishes between eristic (agonistic) argument and cooperative dialectic, saying that with friends he will define in terms that the interlocutor already accepts, rather than simply standing on an answer and daring refutation.

By Plato, from Meno

Key Arguments

  • When Meno objects that Socrates’ definition of figure as "that which always follows colour" is too simple and asks what Socrates would say to someone who does not know what colour is, Socrates says he would respond differently depending on the opponent's attitude.
  • With an "eristic and antagonistic" philosopher he would simply state his answer and challenge them to refute it, treating the exchange as a contest.
  • With a friend he adopts "the dialectician's vein": he will not only tell the truth but "make use of premises which the person interrogated would be willing to admit," thus building the definition from shared ground.
  • He immediately applies this dialectical method by eliciting Meno’s assent to basic notions like "end," "termination," "extremity," "surface," and "solid" as a prelude to defining figure in a way Meno can accept.

Source Quotes

SOCRATES: I should have told him the truth. And if he were a philosopher of the eristic and antagonistic sort, I should say to him: You have my answer, and if I am wrong, your business is to take up the argument and refute me. But if we were friends, and were talking as you and I are now, I should reply in a milder strain and more in the dialectician's vein; that is to say, I should not only speak the truth, but I should make use of premises which the person interrogated would be willing to admit.
And if he were a philosopher of the eristic and antagonistic sort, I should say to him: You have my answer, and if I am wrong, your business is to take up the argument and refute me. But if we were friends, and were talking as you and I are now, I should reply in a milder strain and more in the dialectician's vein; that is to say, I should not only speak the truth, but I should make use of premises which the person interrogated would be willing to admit. And this is the way in which I shall endeavour to approach you.
But if we were friends, and were talking as you and I are now, I should reply in a milder strain and more in the dialectician's vein; that is to say, I should not only speak the truth, but I should make use of premises which the person interrogated would be willing to admit. And this is the way in which I shall endeavour to approach you. You will acknowledge, will you not, that there is such a thing as an end, or termination, or extremity?—all which words I use in the same sense, although I am aware that Prodicus might draw distinctions about them: but still you, I am sure, would speak of a thing as ended or terminated—that is all which I am saying—not anything very difficult.

Key Concepts

  • if he were a philosopher of the eristic and antagonistic sort, I should say to him: You have my answer, and if I am wrong, your business is to take up the argument and refute me.
  • But if we were friends, and were talking as you and I are now, I should reply in a milder strain and more in the dialectician's vein
  • I should not only speak the truth, but I should make use of premises which the person interrogated would be willing to admit.
  • this is the way in which I shall endeavour to approach you.

Context

Near the end of the passage, when Meno presses Socrates on how he would answer a deeper sceptic about colour; Socrates uses the occasion to articulate his conception of cooperative dialectical method.