(To clarify—is your recollection that “Plato’s early Socrates, more closely reflecting actual Socrates, was a nitpicker; and Plato’s late Socrates, a mouthpiece for Plato, was pushing for stuff”? Or the other way around?)
And I’m sure it is an oversimplification! Obviously Socrates was human and knew things and had ideas, no matter what he says and does in some of the dialogs. And obviously Plato was human and didn’t wait until late in his career to start having ideas of his own. And I never did ask how any classicists and historians decided what order Plato wrote his dialogs in, or whether it was controversial.
(To clarify—is your recollection that “Plato’s early Socrates, more closely reflecting actual Socrates, was a nitpicker; and Plato’s late Socrates, a mouthpiece for Plato, was pushing for stuff”? Or the other way around?)
According to the SEP page about Plato, the former is a widely held view (but the author of that page thinks it’s an oversimplification).
This. Awesome reference, thanks!
And I’m sure it is an oversimplification! Obviously Socrates was human and knew things and had ideas, no matter what he says and does in some of the dialogs. And obviously Plato was human and didn’t wait until late in his career to start having ideas of his own. And I never did ask how any classicists and historians decided what order Plato wrote his dialogs in, or whether it was controversial.