Gentleness, Spiritedness, and Choosing an Interlocutor in Plato

Abstract Plato, across several dialogues, praises a combination of spiritedness and gentleness and criticizes an imbalance between these two traits. Unsurprisingly, we see Plato warn against excessively spirited interlocutors in the Republic and Philebus; surprisingly, the Visitor in the Sophist prefers an only gentle interlocutor. This paper argues that we can explain this preference by considering aim in philosophical discussion. Through exploring the relation between gentleness and spiritedness and several main aims, this paper emphasizes how Plato was concerned about mapping philosophical aim onto types of interlocutors, and considered traits such as these important in choosing an interlocutor for philosophical discussion.