Plato: Laches and Charmides

(178A - 190D)

Plato Quotes Brian Nguyen

 General Summary
● Dialogue revolving around virtue of courage
● Nicias and Laches take turns giving their opinions
● Socrates mediates conversation
 Main Characters: Lysimachus and Melesias
Lysimachus

● Son of the Athenian general and

statesman, Aristides

● Begins dialogue

Melesias

● Lysimachus’ friend
Lysimachus 355-281 Bc.
King Of Thrace
 Main Character: Nicias
● Athenian general and statesman, son of Niceratus
● Art of practicing fighting in armor is useful

-Equips boys to defend against assailants

-Encourages further lifelong learning of

warfare

Nicias - Alchetron
 Main Character: Laches
● Athenian general and statesman, son of Melanopus
● Opposes/skeptical of Nicias’ views
● The practice may be useless

-Lacedaemonians haven’t adopted

method
-No man practiced in art of fighting in
armor has been distinguished in war
Spartan Soldier 2 - original
 Is Any and All Knowledge Useful?
● Nicias’ view: any kind knowledge, is good and valuable
(i.e. learning how to fight in armor)
● Laches’ view: all knowledge is good, but not all is valuable

● My view: depends on the individual and whether he/she

can apply that knowledge
 Main Character: Socrates
● Guides direction of conversation - questions the other
characters to about the essence of the debate
-Seek credible advice from qualified
teachers
-Nicias nor Laches are qualified to
give advice

Socrates GREEK PHILOSOPHER

 Admitting What One Doesn’t Know Part 1
● Why did Nicias and Laches give their response?

-Had strong opinions; thought they could give

reasonable advice (186D)
Or
-Felt they were expected to give legitimate advice
 Admitting What One Doesn’t Know Part 2
● Lysimachus held both of them at high regard

“...men to be trusted…” (181B)

● Fear of disappointing close friends
● In reality: live more authentically
 Acknowledging What You Don’t Know
● Socrates helped Nicias and Laches realize what they don’t
know
-Nicias : “For me there is nothing unusual or unpleasant in
being examined by Socrates, but I realized some time ago that
the conversation would not be about the boys but about
ourselves, if Socrates were present.” (188B)
 Works Cited
http://www.celebritytypes.com/quotes/plato.php

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/lysimachus-355-281-bc-king-of-thrace-everett.html

htthttps://angelfire7508.deviantart.com/art/Spartan-Soldier-2-original-50827521

ps://www.pinterest.com/pin/372813675374483477/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Socrates

http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_democracy_overview?page=5

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/laches/summary.html

https://www.ancient.eu/Athenian_Democracy/