The first dialectical exchange of Hippias Minor (365d-369b) has often been thought logically unsound.  I’ll argue that Socrates doesn’t equivocate or otherwise argue invalidly, and that he uses the exchange to advance a position he embraces.

Yet his procedure still raises a question: why isn’t Socrates clearer about the goal of his argument?  It isn’t enough to say that Socrates is trying to disabuse Hippias of his pretensions.  Instead, I’ll propose, one should read the exchange in terms of a purpose Socrates has regarding the dialogue’s internal audience – the group witnessing his exchange with Hippias.

Reflecting on that helps us appreciate something further: at the dramatic level, the opening of the dialogue is closely related to Plato’s Gorgias.  That encourages one to read the first argument with Hippias as a counterpart to Socrates’ exchange with Gorgias; and such an approach remedies some limitations of Socrates’ treatment of the stated theme of deceptive speech.