  Precisely what the connection is between the Phaedo's method of hypothesis (99eff) and the Republic's remarks on hypothesis and the ascent to an unhypothetical first principal is a subject of controversy. Equally controversial is its connection within the Phaedo to the method of recollection and to philosophical practice in general. In attempting to study what there is (onta), Socrates says that he shrinks from things (erga) to concentrate on propositions/accounts (logoi), which he denies are more images (of what there is) than the physical things: “I started in this manner: taking as my hypothesis in each case the theory that seemed to me most compelling, I would consider as true, about cause and everything else, whatever agreed with this, and as untrue whatever did not agree.” (99e-100a). Since the hypothesis of Forms is offered next, with its corollary of participating particulars, it would seem that the logoi are opinions about Forms. These logoi are to be treated as provisional. Socrates' is the strongest logos and the safest, in explicit contrast to the wise explanations of others.  From the examples provided, it seems that ‘agreement’ here is not a notion of entailment or logical consequence. Rather, Plato directs us to posit initially a general hypothesis and to determine whether there are particular cases within the target domain—here the cause of generation and destruction—that are inconsistent with, i.e., not adequately explained by, it (see Bedu-Addo 1991).