DOES SOCRATES COMMIT THE SOCRATIC FALLACY

Abstract

UVER since P. T. Geach's famous assault1 on a ?' style of mistaken thinking underlying Soc? rates' What-is-F? question the specter of the Soc ratic Fallacy has haunted the literature. Unlike many less searching allegations, the charge of a specifically fallacy cuts deep and calls for radical reappraisal. It bespeaks not simply error but monumental error?a mistake in principle which fatally undercuts Socrates' whole theoretical enterprise and is quite likely to be morally harm? ful2 as well. How is it that the man who claimed never inten? tionally to have wronged anyone should have come under such severe censure? What, exactly, is the Socratic Fallacy? According to Geach, it consists in making two assumptions: