Not Getting It

Socrates is my hero. That probably goes for most philosophers. I was a bit surprised at the degree of grief I suffered at reading student essays in which a sizable portion only understand argument as a rhetorical method of persuasion among others. In essay after essay, students failed to get that Socrates is not trying to win in the Apology through rhetoric - he has the option of doing so, but considers it shameful. Maybe it's too much to expect that the students actually read the Apology and noted the importation message of the dialogue that non-rational persuasion is different from persuasion by reason.

Grading is my main interaction with the students (as TA), so I won't have much chance to try to get them to really get Socrates. But it's early in the course and it is (mostly) their first course in philosophy, so after reading more Plato, maybe they'll get it. But if nothing else, I've gotten one of the student errors I want to make sure I address when it's my turn to teach Plato/Socrates to undergraduates.