Socrates seems to be going ahead with Lysis' request to beat Menexenus in eristic debate. He is taking time to set it up, ensuring that he appears to be the underdog, pretending to complain that Menexenus is sitting with his "teacher" Ctesippus, his slightly older cousin. He also ensures that Menexenus will be the one answering questions, the best way to guarantee eristic victory. At one point in the episode I say that Socrates is not an eristician although he is expert in the use of eristic techniques, since he never actually wants to beat anybody. This is not entirely true, since he does beat Thrasymachus in their eristic debate in Book I of Republic. Dramatically he does this to ensure a long conversation (actually another nine books); paradeigmatically, the "tyrant" (eristician-sophist) must be dramatized being tamed by the "aristocrat" (dialectician). For the pedants, yes, Socrates "beats" Thrasymachus once again in book 9, having been asked in book 2 to defeat the sophist properly. The eristic beating is obviously not what the dialogue is about.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com