Università Roma Tre

AIMED IN PARTICULAR AT DEMONSTRATING THE INCONSISTENCY OF THE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE OF THE SOPHISTS, THE APOLOGIA OF SOCRATES IS A WORK BY PLATO DEDICATED TO THE THEME OF THE TEACHABILITY OF VIRTUE. IN WHAT SENSE IS KNOWLEDGE SALEABLE? WHY DOES THIS KNOWLEDGE DESERVE TO BE PURCHASED? THESE QUESTIONS ARE COMPLEX: AS SOCRATES OBSERVES, THE RISK IN THE PURCHASE OF TEACHINGS IS MUCH GREATER THAN IN THAT OF FOOD. FOOD IS SOMETHING WITH WHICH ONE HAS A RELATIONSHIP, A VERY INTIMATE ONE, OF INCORPORATION: BUT FOOD CAN BE TAKEN HOME IN A CONTAINER AND ANALYZED, WHILE KNOWLEDGE MUST BE TESTED ON ONESELF, IN ONE'S OWN SOUL. WITH IRREVERSIBLE BENEFIT OR DAMAGE: COGNITION MEANS CHANGE, IN A "LINEAR" AND IRREVOCABLE SENSE, AND NOT SIMPLY SATISFYING A NEED THAT ARISES CYCLICALLY AND MUST BE COMPENSATED FOR IN ORDER TO KEEP US ALIVE. FOR THIS REASON, COGNITIONS CANNOT BE EVALUATED AS IF THEY WERE THINGS.

– PLATONE, Repubblica, qualsiasi edizione
– IMPARA P.,L'educazione come etica politica in Aristotele, Bruno Mondadori 2007