'Criminal' utterances: an interpretation of Lesser Hippias

Abstract

If wonder is the beginning of philosophy, then Plato’s Lesser Hippias is not wanting in this regard. In it, we encounter a Socrates that appears to be very different than the one we meet in other Platonic dialogues for this Socrates puts forth strange and terrible views. Indeed, he seems to argue that the liar and truthful man are one and the same and that to do injustice voluntarily is better than to do it involuntarily. Needless to say, the unfolding of these arguments leave many perplexed. Yet since Socrates ends by doubting his own conclusion, explaining that it was the necessary result of the argument, we are invited to re-read the dialogue with an eye to examining the steps of the argument in hopes of making sense of this perplexing piece of work.