Hippias Major

E39228

Hippias Major is a Platonic dialogue in which Socrates and the sophist Hippias attempt, and repeatedly fail, to define the nature of beauty.

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form As subject As object
Hippias Minor 0 1

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Platonic dialogue
Socratic dialogue
author Plato
authorshipStatus disputed
traditionally attributed to Plato
cataloguedIn Thrasyllan tetralogies
centralQuestion What is beauty itself?
What is the beautiful?
characterRoleOfHippias sophist
characterRoleOfSocrates questioner
conclusion no final definition of beauty is reached
corpus Platonic corpus
Socratic dialogues of Plato
dialogueForm elenchus
ending aporia
examinesConcept absolute beauty
difference between examples and essence
relativism about beauty
use of examples in definition
featuresCharacter Eudicus
Hippias of Elis
Socrates
focusesOn distinction between beautiful things and Beauty itself
genre aesthetic treatise
philosophical dialogue
hasTitleInGreek Ἱππίας μείζων
influenced later aesthetic theory
medieval discussions of pulchrum
language Ancient Greek
mainTheme beauty
period Classical Greek philosophy
philosophicalApproach dialectic
philosophicalTopic Socratic method
aesthetics
definition of beauty
nature of the beautiful
preservedIn manuscripts of Platonic dialogues
questionsViewOf beauty as appropriateness
beauty as pleasure
beauty as usefulness
relatedWork Hippias Minor
Phaedrus
Συμπόσιον
surface form: Symposium
setIn Athens
structure aporetic
style early Platonic style (according to some scholars)
possibly later Platonic style (according to other scholars)
traditionallyDatedTo 4th century BCE

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Plato notableWork Hippias Major
Plato notableWork Hippias Major
this entity surface form: Hippias Minor