Writing to John Adams on July 5, 1814, Thomas Jefferson said this about Plato: 
"While wading thro' the whimsies, the puerilities, and unintelligible jargon of [Plato's] work, I 
laid it down often to ask myself how it could have been that the world should have so long 
consented to give reputation to such nonsense as this? . . . With the Moderns, I think, it is rather 
a matter of fashion and authority. Education is chiefly in the hands of persons who . . . have an 
interest in the reputation and the dreams of Plato. They give the tone while at school, and few, in 
their after-years, have occasion to revise their college opinions. But fashion and authority apart, 
and bringing Plato to the test of reason, take from him his sophisms, futilities, and 
incomprehensibilities, and what remains? In truth, he is one of the race of genuine Sophists, who 
has escaped the oblivion of his brethren. . . . His foggy mind, is forever presenting the 
semblances of objects which, half seen thro' a mist, can be defined neither in form [n]or 
dimension. . . . Yet 'Plato is a great Philosopher,' said La Fontaine. But says Fontenelle 'do you 
find his ideas very clear'? 'Oh no! he is of an obscurity impenetrable.' 'Do you not find him 
full of contradictions?' 'Certainly,' replied La Fontaine, 'he is but a Sophist.' Yet immediately 
after, he exclaims again, 'Oh Plato was a great Philosopher.'" 

What should Adams' response have been to Jefferson's complaint against Plato and his 
admirers? 
In dealing with this problem, you should formulate your own thesis and argument, defending 
Plato from Jefferson or agreeing with as much of Jefferson as you can. You don't need to 
pretend to be Adams. Your evidence must be drawn from the Symposium.