The Propedeutic Role of the Sophist and the Emergence of the Philosopher. Division, Dialectic and Paradigms in Plato’s Sophist

Abstract

This paper will examine the issue of Plato’s purposes in the Sophist. First, we will shed light on the main purpose Plato might be drawing in the prologue of the dialog, where the Eleatic Stranger begins to show his philosophical status. Then, we will locate the sophist’s characterization within this main purpose, by reading the result of this characterization as an implicit ?????????? which prepares the execution ofthe dialectic and anticipates the defining features of an object key to this science.