Athenian Nights

  Ion is one of the shortest dialogues in all of Plato’s work and, I must say, it was delightful to read. It was a welcome break from the more intellectually heady stuff that hurts your brain, but still dimly sheds some light on Platonic truths that are mirrored in other dialogues. It begins with Socrates meeting the vain and childlike Ion, a rhapsodist who is an expert on Homer. Socrates is being quite ironic when he says he is very envious of rhapsodists, who were the actors of ancient times. They would act out the epic poems which entailed they dress up in fine clothes and have a great ability to memorize huge amounts of lines. More than that though, “You have to understand his thought [the poet’s], and not merely learn his lines” (530c). Whether or not they can really do that remains to be seen. Ion claims to be the world’s foremost expert on Homer, so much so that he would be able to impress the Homeridae (descendants of Homer). Socrates asks what he thinks of other poets lik...

               The Lesser Hippias is a really strange dialogue. Every introduction I have read about it says that it is, by far, one of the most inferior of the authentic Platonic dialogues and I have to agree. That is mainly due to the style, even though the topic of the text also escapes my grasp, but that may have more to do with me than with Plato. Nevertheless, the conclusion reached and how he got there is exceedingly odd and done with far less subtlety than is usually present in Plato’s work. It also seems to be a fairly meaningless paradox, although maybe upon further reflection it might be shown to contain some purpose. It starts with the sophist Hippias declaring his arrogance with a gusto, that, like I mentioned, seems a bit too on the nose and more farcical than Plato is accustomed to using. He says he can answer any question anyone can possibly ask, and he has never found his superior in anything. And by anything, he means every...

           Euthyphro literally means straight thinker or a person who is very reasonable. It is the name of the next shorter ethical dialogue and the name of Socrates interlocutor in that dialogue. This ends up being pretty funny since it is quite obvious that Euthyphro is anything but a good thinker. The dialogue begins with Euthyphro finding Socrates at the law courts and correctly guessing that someone must be prosecuting him, since he couldn’t imagine gentle Socrates lodging a complaint against anyone. Socrates humility is showcased when he tells him that he is being brought to trial for corrupting the youth. He says that if he has done this then he deserves to be punished, because nothing is more important than the upbringing of the young. He believes Meletus must be a wise person for being able to know whether or not he is doing this; either that or Socrates is being very ironic. Euthyphro tells Socrates that he is pretty sure the charges are trumped...

        Lysis is another definitional dialogue that ends up addressing deeper topics than appear on the surface. The scene begins with Hippothales and Ctesippus meeting up with Socrates on the road. Socrates, just like in Symposium, says he has a “sixth sense” for detecting when someone is in love or not and Hippothales has that glow about him. He confesses to be in love with a guy named Lysis, but after he tells Socrates how he has been expressing his admiration, Socrates upbraids him. Apparently, Hippothales has been writing poems and hymns about Lysis all the time and yet he is so bashful he never gets up the nerve to actually speak to him. Socrates tells him that he is making two mistakes. “All connoisseurs, therefore, in matters of love, are careful of praising their favorites before they have won them, from their doubts as to the result of the affair. Moreover, your beauties, when lauded and made much of, become gorged with pride and arrogance” (206a)....

                The next installment of the shorter ethical works is another definitional dialogue, Laches named after an Athenian general. The ostensible goal in this one is to define the word courage and, as usual, it ends in aporia. The dialogue begins with two fathers and friends, Lysimachus and Melesius who want Nicias’ and Laches’ opinions on how to bring their children up. They grew up soft and spoiled and have no real accomplishments to speak of due to their fathers’ wealth and neglect. They do not feel equipped to guide their children correctly. Although this is surely a poor state of affairs to find yourself in, it is good that they proclaim their inability and seek advice from people wiser than themselves. They are keenly aware that raising children is a massive responsibility and do not want to screw it up. Socrates agrees, “Children are your riches, and upon their turning out well or ill depends the who...

                Charmides is the next shorter ethical work and it is also a definitional dialogue whose object is to investigate the virtue of sophrosyne. What is sophrosyne? Well, they never reach a satisfactory definition by the end of the dialogue, but we can start with a working definition. It is the Greek virtue par excellence. It is like temperance and self-control, basically the opposite of pleonexia (“wanting too much’) which is THE cardinal sin for the Greeks. It means to restrain the impulses we have towards unrestricted freedom, to have all things in perfect harmony and measure so that our lives will become excellent. This virtue underlies all of Plato’s work, in my opinion. It is why freedom means discipline. It can not only be seen to have benefits in your life as you go through it, but it makes logical sense as well. Think about times when you have deviated from the happy medium of things – it usually e...

I began my reflections on Plato’s “shorter ethical works,” as they are called by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy with the Apology . Now, I move onto Crito , another short work that isn’t too difficult to comprehend. That does not mean it isn’t in any way perplexing, especially when juxtaposed with other works like the Apology , although I don’t think it too difficult to reconcile the differences. Crito opens with Socrates merrily awaiting his execution for the past month in prison. This was most unusual – typically people were executed the day after their sentencing. Socrates was given a reprieve due to felicitous circumstances – an Athenian ship needed to go on a sacred mission and apparently it was unlawful to execute people while this occurred. Socrates debates with his friend Crito whether or not his execution will occur the next day or the day after that. Socrates says he is sure it will happen the day after next since this was revealed to him in a dream of a “gloriously ...

  Apology is typically a person’s first introduction to Plato as it is not too abstruse and contains many familiar elements of other dialogues and imparting a great deal of beauty and wisdom, all in a relatively small package. It has possibly the most biographical information on Socrates that we possess in the Platonic corpus. We learn little details such as the fact that he is 70 years old at the time of his prosecution and this is his first ever appearance in court. He warns the court that lies can be very convincing, so we should beware those who hide their lies in beautiful sounding flowery words. Socrates claims he isn’t a skillful speaker, he only speaks the truth directly and simply as possible. For these reasons he argues that the substance and content of what we are saying is much more important than the manner. I believe this is largely true. We spend too much of our time as a species flustering ourselves by making sure things are rigidly by the book – although that does...