Plato's Socrates as Narrator by Schultz Anne-Marie;

Author:Schultz, Anne-Marie;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

By comparing the argumentative strategies of Euthydemus and Dionysodorus to Corybantic mysteries, Socrates places all the previous metaphors that he has used to describe their behavior in a different light. The images of a wrestling match (271c, 277d), a skillful dance (276d), and being struck by a ball (277b) now become part of this larger metaphor which compares the sophists and their arguments to a Corybantic initiation.[23] This larger metaphor reinforces Socrates’ implicit suggestion that harm will come to Clinias’ soul. Mystery religions, such as Corybantic initiation, typically sought to purify the soul of the initiate through a variety of physical practices.[24] In contrast, these sophistic mysteries, which Socrates compares to a variety of physical practices, seek not to purify but to destroy. They have no regard for Clinias’ soul.

Socrates tells Clinias where he went wrong: “In the first place, as Prodicus says, you must learn about the correct use of words; and our two visitors are pointing out this very thing” (278a). Socrates explains how Euthydemus and Dionysodorus exploit Clinias’ linguistic carelessness (278a–278b) and offers his assessment of their practices:

These things are the frivolous part of study which is why I also tell you that the men are jesting; and I call these things “frivolity” because even if a man were to learn many or even all such things, he would be none the wiser as to how matters stand but would only be able to make fun of people, tripping them up and overturning them by means of the distinctions in words, just like the people who pull the chair out from under a man who is going to sit down and then laugh gleefully when they see him sprawling on his back. So you must think of their performance as having been mere play. (278b–c)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.