Plato 7.4 The Magnet
So what made Socrates so special? We can identify a few salient traits from Plato’s Socratic dialogues.
Humility
Humility was not a Greek virtue. Later the Stoics would make a virtue of humility, and certainly the Christians would do so. But in Socrates’ time, pride and self-satisfaction were regarded as essential for every free man (not so much for women). Yet Socrates went about seeking wisdom from his associates — wisdom he did not have. What is piety? What is justice? What is courage? What do you think? You must know a lot about such things. You are an expert, a leading citizen, and up-and-coming young man, or whatever you are. In an age when the Sophists advertise their universal or near-universal knowledge, Socrates claims not to have any special knowledge. Where the Sophists are willing to teach their knowledge and skills for a fee, some with money-back guarantees, Socrates claims not to be a teacher and he charges no fees for his conversations.
Gregariousness
Socrates was apparently able to ponder for hours on philosophical topics.[5] But he seems to have preferred to inquire after truth in the company of others, whether close friends, acquaintances, or complete strangers. He seems to have looked on his fellow citizens as a endless sources of understanding. There is a hint in his methods that he believes we all have the knowledge we need to be virtuous and productive citizens, if only we can find it. He can spend hours talking with someone about his questions. And he seems to have gathered audiences of listeners, including a regular entourage of young men who found his inquiries fascinating.
Commitment
Socrates seems to have been dedicated to a life of learning and investigation. As he tells the story in the Apology, he discovers that his awareness of his own ignorance is a kind of virtue that keeps him from the hubris of believing he knows things he does not know. In the process of asking questions and investigating along with others, he arrives at certain convictions that come to define his life and activity. These are often puzzling beliefs that seem to be in conflict with each other and with to offend common sense. They are known as Socratic paradoxes. Virtue is knowledge. Virtue is not teachable. No one desires evil. The virtues are one. No one can harm a good man. The unexamined life is not worth living. There is no weakness of will. Virtue is necessary for happiness. Virtue is sufficient for happiness.
Divine Inspiration
Socrates also claims to receive messages from a divine voice, his daimonion. He explains that this voice does not tell him what to do, but does warn him what not to do. He is obedient to these messages, which seem to guide him in his activities to the extent of avoiding actions or pursuits that would be harmful to him. He finds that the voice warns him against getting involved in political issues, although it does not, apparently, forbid him from serving in political offices that come to him by lot — as is the case of most political offices in the Athenian state.[6] Because of the messages he receives, Socrates may be seen as a religious figure. Yet he does not claim any religious expertise (as we have seen in his visit with Euthyphro, the self-proclaimed religious expert). Rather he seems to take the voice as a personal guide.
Confronting the Enigma
Who was Socrates? He certainly was an inspiration to a generation of young men who came of age in the late fifth or early fourth centuries BC. He claimed not to be a teacher of or an expert in anything, yet he was the mentor to his followers. He professed no religious expertise, yet he was clearly a man with a mission who had access to some sort of limited religious revelation. He devoted his time to a pursuit of knowledge that he did not claim to ever acquire. He claimed to have no knowledge, or, more accurately, to have no special knowledge that entitled him to call himself a sage or a sophist, yet he clearly had a deep understanding of theoretical issues that others lacked. He made a special effort to find someone wiser than himself, yet he never found such a person.
Plato found in Socrates the scruffy street philosopher so different from the beautiful and cultured people he grew up with a bizarre ideal of intellectual integrity and unassailable virtue. He turned his considerable literary gifts to bringing back to life the man who had captured his imagination. He would share with anyone who could read the marvel that was Socrates, with all his idiosyncrasies and mysteries, and show how his strange method of interacting with people could instill in them new ideas, new levels of understanding, and ultimately virtue. He was like a magnet that magnetizes the metal rings that come in contact with it, to use an analogy from a Socratic dialogue.[7] He seemed to be able to transmit to others his curiosity and passion for knowledge. And in Plato’s hands he became the magnet that attracted readers to Plato’s dialogues.
[5] Plato Symposium 220c-d.
[6] Plato Apology 31c-d. Compare Plato Euthydemus 272e-273b.
[7] Plato Ion 533d-e.
