Socrates' "Hybris" and Alcibiades' Failure
1977; Classical Association of Canada; Volume: 31; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1087153
ISSN1929-4883
Autores Tópico(s)Classical Philosophy and Thought
ResumoIN A RECENT ESSAY on Paradox of Gregory Vlastos has tried to explain among other things why Socrates' interlocutors in the early Platonic dialogues learn so little from this man, who repeatedly emphasizes the importance of knowledge. In this paper I will not comment directly on Professor Vlastos' perceptive analysis but will take as my starting point his conviction (16) that behind Socrates' of knowledge lay a of love. I hope to show that in the Symposium (which Vlastos does not mention) Plato portrays Socrates as a failure in certain respects, and that his failure in this dialogue is also to be understood as a of love in several senses. The purpose of this paper is to explore this aspect of Socrates as it is revealed in the Symposium, particularly in the deeply personal tribute of the drunken Alcibiades. There is now general agreement that Alcibiades' speech is a vital element of the Symposium, and that a primary purpose of the speech is to portray Socrates as a living example of that eros which he praised in his own speech.' Critics have focused their attention, however, almost entirely on the positive aspects of Alcibiades' picture of Socrates and have virtually ignored Alcibiades' own explicit statement (222a7-8) that he has mixed criticism together with praise in his speech.3 I do not wish to deny the validity or the importance of the praise of Socrates contained in the speech; I would even grant that the presentation of Socrates as the embodiment of eros, as the perfect student of ta erotika, is the most important aspect of the Symposium. But Alcibiades' criticism of Socrates is also a significant aspect of the dialogue which can not be ignored, and
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