How philosophy became socratic : a study of Plato's Protagoras, Charmides, and Republic

453 Pages·2010·1.55 MB·English

How Philosophy Became Socratic
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How Philosophy Became Socratic
EF
A Study of Plato’s
Protagoras, Charmides, and Republic
laurence lampert
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago & London
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Laurence Lampert is professor emeritus of philosophy at Indiana University–Purdue
University Indianapolis and the author of Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, also published by
the University of Chicago Press.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2010 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-47096-2 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-47096-2 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lampert, Laurence, 1941–
How philosophy became socratic : a study of Plato’s Protagoras, Charmides, and
Republic / Laurence Lampert.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-47096-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-47096-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Socrates. 2. Socrates—
Political and social views. 3. Plato. Protagoras. 4. Plato. Republic. 5. Plato.
Charmides. 6. Philosophy, Ancient—History. 7. Philosophy, Ancient—Political
aspects. 8. Political science—Philosophy. I. Title.
b317.l335 2010
184—dc22
2009052793
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.
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[ contents ]
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
part one
Philosophy in a Time of Splendor: Socrates
in Periclean Athens before the War, c. 433
chapter 1. Protagoras: Socrates and the Greek Enlightenment 19
Prologue: Great Protagoras 19
1. First Words 21
2. The Frame Conversation 24
3. Socrates with a Young Athenian 28
4. Socrates in Hades 34
5. Protagoras Introduces Himself 37
6. Socrates’ Challenge and Invitation:
Can the Political Art Be Taught? 43
7. Protagoras’s Display Speech:
Why the Political Art Is Teachable 50
8. Socrates’ Display Speech, Part I:
The Wise Must Teach That Virtue Is Unitary 70
9. Socrates Stages a Crisis 79
10. Socrates’ Display Speech, Part II:
A Wiser Stance toward the Wise 85
11. Alcibiades Presides 98
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vi Contents
12. Socrates’ Display Speech, Part III:
A Wiser Stance toward the Many 102
13. The Final Tribunal: Courage and Wisdom 117
14. Socrates the Victor 121
15. Last Words 124
16. Socrates’ Politics for Philosophy in 433 130
Note on the Dramatic Date of Protagoras and Alcibiades I 141
part two
Philosophy in a Time of Crisis: Socrates’ Return to War-Ravaged,
Plague-Ravaged Athens, Late Spring 429
chapter 2. Charmides: Socrates’ Philosophy and
Its Transmission 147
Prologue: The Return of Socrates 147
1. First Words 148
2. Socrates’ Intentions 153
3. The Spectacle of Charmides’ Entrance 157
4. Critias Scripts a Play but Socrates Takes It Over 162
5. Stripping Charmides’ Soul 169
6. What Critias Took from Socrates and What That
Riddler Had in Mind 178
7. Should Each of the Beings Become Clearly Apparent
Just As It Is? 194
8. The Final Defi nition of Sôphrosunê, Socrates’ Defi nition 199
9. The Possibility of Socrates’ Sôphrosunê 203
10. The Benefi t of Socrates’ Sôphrosunê 213
11. Socrates Judges the Inquiry 226
12. Last Words 230
13. Who Might the Auditor of Plato’s Charmides Be? 235
Note on the Dramatic Date of Charmides 237
chapter 3. The Republic: The Birth of Platonism 241
Prologue: Socrates’ Great Politics 241
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Contents vii
One: The World to Which Socrates Goes Down 243
1. First Words 243
2. The Compelled and the Voluntary 247
3. Learning from Cephalus 248
4. Polemarchus and Socratic Justice 253
5. Gentling Thrasymachus 257
6. The State of the Young in Athens 271
Two: Socrates’ New Beginning 279
7. New Gods 279
8. New Philosophers 289
9. New Justice in a New Soul 293
10. Compulsion and Another Beginning 306
11. The Center of the Republic: The Philosopher Ruler 312
12. Glaucon, Ally of the Philosopher’s Rule 320
13. Platonism: Philosophy’s Political Defense and
Introduction to Philosophy 329
14. Public Speakers for Philosophy 337
15. Images of the Greatest Study: Sun, Line, Cave 348
Three: The Last Act of the Returned Odysseus 375
16. Love and Reverence for Homer 375
17. Homer’s Deed 377
18. Homer’s Children 382
19. Rewards and Prizes for Socrates’ Children 389
20. Replacing Homer’s Hades 394
21. Last Words 403
Note on the Dramatic Date of the Republic 405
Epilogue 413
Works Cited 419
Index 425
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[ acknowledgments ]
I am grateful to George Dunn for the help he has given me with this book. His
acute insights, exegetically grounded and far reaching, illumined many passages
of Plato for me, and he generously permitted me to incorporate them as I saw fi t.
In addition, the two readers for the Press did me the great service of providing de-
tailed criticisms from deeply informed perspectives; their work greatly improved
the fi nished version of this book.
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