Vero e falso si apprendono insieme. Il vero e il falso filosofo nell'Eutidemo di Platone

This paper shows that one of Plato's goals in Euthydemus dialogue is to present the eristic as the opposite of philosophy: the erists Euthydemus and Dionysodurus are not philosophers, they are false philosophers. This is the key which allows us to explain many of the "oddities" of the dialogue, for instance Socrates' kindness to the erists, and his real interest in the empty art of eristic, which does not aim to find the truth, but only to win the discussion. Eristic uses the same means of dialectic and faces the same issues but it plays a false game. However, everyone who wants to become a true dialectic must play this game to be introduced to philosophy. Indeed, as Plato says in Letter VII (344B1-3), true and false are learnt together.