Some Lessons from Alcibiades 1 and Plato’s Seventh Letter for Philosophical Practitioners

Abstract

In this paper I illuminate several themes that I find of great import in understanding the practice of Philosophical Practice as a process. I do this through a careful consideration of two often disputed texts by Plato: Alcibiades 1 and Plato’s Seventh Letter. I do not wish to defend the authenticity of the authorship of the texts, but simply extol the usefulness and appropriateness of these two lesser considered texts as displaying a number of important teachings that I often use in Philosophical Practice. I take these teachings to be central to Plato’s meta-philosophy and the notion of self-concept.