FEATURED ESSAYS 1. Phaedo 2. Philosophy - Socrates 3. Phaedo 4. The Dialectical Cut In Socrates' ... 5. Socrates: Psychic Harmony Is The ... 6. The Death Of Socrates 7. The Unexamined Life 8. Socrates And Descartes On Dual 9. Socrates 2 10. Elian Gonzales, The Way Socrat 11. Philosophy - Socrates View Of 12. The Unjust Execution Of Socrates 13. What Is Piety 14. The Wisdom Of Socrates

The Dialectical Cut in Socrates' Soul


            Within the spectrum of the political realm, one of the most
important philosophical questions arises, "What is the best regime?" It is
obvious that the best regime is one of complied consent. There still seems
to be difficulty in deciding the best means to the desired end. Politics,
the ruling force, operates in the realm of opinions.  Its counterpart,
philosophy, is an attempt to replace opinions about political things.  This
"political science" is the process of acquiring political knowledge for the
guiding of political life.  The transformation from opinions to knowledge
is through the dialectic method.  This "political science" is not without
its problems.  It is plagued by relativism and nihilism.  These problems
tend to make politics unreceptive to philosophy.  What philosophy is is
best seen in a confrontation between the philosopher and the city. It is by
no small coincidence that these two conflicting views are seen in different
characters in The Being of the Beautiful.  The obvious question now becomes
"Why does Plato make a dialectical cut in Socrates' soul between Theaetetus
and Young Socrates?" In answering this question it becomes central to
assume that the being of the beautiful is not contained in one character,
and for that matter, may not be a character at all.  It is crucial then to
take up the characteristics of both Theaetetus and Young Socrates in
relation to what the beautiful is.  In so doing, it will provide the basis
for political knowledge. To begin, Theaetetus is a youth just returned from
battle. War, being the harshest of all teachers places one under the duress
of necessity. This is a foreshadowing of the struggle, both internal and
external that are about to occur.  The exteral battle is the undermining of
the beliefs and opinions of the many.  This undermining is very dangerous
for it leads to one of three options: death, madness or philosophy.  As
different as all of the beliefs are, the basis is faith butressed by reason
to make it friendly to philosophy.  The internal struggle, at first glance,
seems to be the easier to construct. The internal struggle is Theaetetus'
gripping the concept of the idea (eikoi). Socrates acknowledges that
Theaetetus grasps the idea by saying "Gosh, that's good by Hera, and
divine" (Theaetetus, 154d).  Socrates apparently implicates that Theaetetus
has the mind of a philosopher. He is one of the few who can have his
opinions undercut and still be willing to learn.  Although Theaetetus adds
substantive meaning to the discussion, he soon becomes "dizzy" (Theaetetus,
155d).  Again, Socrates encourages Theaetetus saying that "this experience
is very much that of the philosophers" (Theaetetus, 155d). Throughout the
Theaetetus, Theaetetus cannot seem to move out of the language of the city.
He constantly answers "it seems likely" and "it appears". Socrates does not
correct this apparent flaw.  Socrates is very patient with Theaetetus,
stopping at many points to let Theaetetus grasp the point.  It is not until
the Sophist that Theaetetus moves from the language of "it appears" to "of
course" (Sophist, 222e) cutting off the Stranger in the middle of a
sentence.  The Stranger treats Theaetetus very differently than does
Socrates.  Perhaps this is the reason for Socrates' qualified
recommendation of Theaetetus to the Stranger. "Well, its possible to select
anyone you want of those present, for everyone will gently comply with you,
but if you take me as your adviser, you will choose one of the young,
Theaetetus here, or anyone of the rest who suits you" (Sophist, 217d).  The
Stranger does believe that Theaetetus can become the philosopher.  "Since I
understand your nature, and it will advance by itself, I will let it go...
for time would be superfluous" (Sophist, 265e).  The stranger teaches
skepticism that one must have to become the philsopher but at the same time
teaching Theaetetus not to give up altogether. In contrast to Theaetetus'
moderation, Young Socrates is excess of courage.  Where Theaetetus is timid,
Young Socrates is courageous.  Young Socrates first fault is that he has
trouble following the dialogue.  It is important to make Young Socrates
sympathetic to philosophy, by discouraging him, but not making him the
philosopher.  Although Young Socrates gets lost in the speech, he continues
to follow in an attempt to understand.  He even goes to the extreme of
reproaching the Stranger when he says "... but we went around in a circle
distinguishing very many things in vain" (Statesman, 283b) by saying "Just
speak" (Statesman 283c).  He does not get angry like Callicles and is more
perseverant than Polus. Spirited citizens, such as Young Socrates and Polus
are not philosophers nor are they direct enemies to philosophers. The
project then becomes to make them receptive to philosophy. Evidence tends
to show that this has, or is being accomplished. Young Socrates has hung in
on a very tedious discussion and admits "I understand" (Statesman, 288a) in
the turn to the discussion of where the Statesmans' are lies. Despite being
refuted at every point, Yong Socrates goes through the discussion without
anger. This is the transformation that other citizens are not able to make
and direct evidence that Young Socrates has been made receptive. From these
two conflicting characters, it is obvious that the two must be combined to
allow for the possibility of politics sympathizing with philosophy. Young
Socrates has to be elevated and somewhat discouraged from his courage.
Theaetetus has to be lowered into the city and moved away from from his
moderation.  For politics to become sympathetic to philosophy, Plato needs
to demonstrate that seeking the mean between the impulses is possible. What
then is the best regime that binds these two characters together?  The
answer is the rule of the best on the basis of wisdom.  This is only
possible in a lawless regime.  The Stranger is attempting to point out to
Young Socrates that there is something beyond regimes and laws and that
justice rests on ideas of nature.  Laws are rules of convenience and
meaningless ancestral tradition.  Young Socrates cannot understand this. He
says that "all has been said in a measured way... but this is hard to take
in" (Statesman, 293e).  The Stranger explains that the rule of law is for
one class and is corrupt, imperfect and seditionary. Through the
questioning of the laws, the foundations of the one are seen. Politics and
philosophy are not natural enemies.  Both Theaetetus and Young Socrates
understand the ideas to some extent. The goal now is to make each receptive
to the other.  Both make distinctions between men and gods.  They can each
understand the concept that something merely "is". Within each character
separately a vice is seen but when combined dialectically, the possibility
of a true political philosophy is possible.  Perhaps Socrates sees in both
of them the idea of the philosopher and he wants to see it generated as
proof of a permanent condition of human nature.