The Philosophical Review/Volume 1/Summary: Döring - Der Begriff der Dialektik in den Memorabilien
D. believes the material of the Memorabilia has not been sufficiently utilized for determining the actual teaching of Sokrates. The chief passage for the Sokratic notion of Dialectic is IV, 5. 11 f. Dialectic is here the art of separating the possible courses of conduct into groups from a moral standpoint. In addition to this, D. brings forward as explanatory of the Sokratic notion of Dialectic Mem., IV, 2. 12 f. and I, 1. 16 f. In IV, 6. the essence of Dialectic is defined as the knowledge of τί ἕκαστον εἴη τῶν ὄντων. This is a step further than the foregoing chapter, in which Dialectic had for its object only moral conduct; here it receives a universal employment,—ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων. Author finds that the Xenophontic Sokrates employs the notion of Dialectic in two senses: (1) it is directed chiefly to ethical conceptions, in which διαλέγειν is used for the correct demarcation of opposed notions; (2) in a wider sense it includes the most manifold forms of argumentation. Mem., III, 9. 4 f. is cited as a passage of prime importance for the Sokratic philosophy. Author shows from this that the ethical σοφία of Sokrates has a double function: (1) knowledge of the right; (2) knowledge of the right as efficient cause in directing conduct. In thus giving σοφία an application to conduct, the Sokratic notion of virtue as knowledge is cleared of some difficulty.