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Two Comic Dialogues: Ion and Hippias Major
Two Comic Dialogues Ion and Hippias Major Author:Plato, Paul Woodruff (Translator) In Plato's Ion (/ˈaɪɒn/; Greek: Ἴων) Socrates discusses with Ion, a professional rhapsode who also lectures on Homer, the question of whether the rhapsode, a performer of poetry, gives his performance on account of his skill and knowledge or by virtue of divine possession. It is one of ... more »the shorter of Plato's dialogues.
In the Hippias Major, Socrates and Hippias set out to find a definition for "beauty", but are destined to fail due to their inability to formulate an answer which encompasses the entire concept. The actual Greek term that is used in the dialogue is καλόν, which as an adjective often means fine or noble as well as beautiful. For this reason, translators such as Paul Woodruff typically translate the term (τὸ καλόν -- the abstract noun of the adjective) as "the Fine" (things) instead of "Beauty."« less