Agnes Callard: belief

Transcript context

…Right. People are telling stories about Socrates, and they’re also imitating Socrates. They’re walking around barefoot and stuff. In their idea, he was a bit of a joke. Socrates gave rise to a whole bunch of Socrates imitators, as well as people who would write what Socrates wrote, like Xenophon and Plato. Plato’s reflecting on this, on the kind of role of Socrates in the culture. And so you start with that, and you end with Alcibiades saying, “Here’s what it’s like to be around Socrates, to be affected by Socrates.” That question, the question of the role of Socrates in the culture — and the place of the kind of speech he gives in the context of the kinds of speeches other people gave — what’s it like for Socrates to be one among many speakers in a group? I find it hard not to think that that’s at least in part about the question of, was he guilty? Did the Athenians make the correct decision? Did he corrupt the youth? Was he a positive influence in this culture or not? I do think that’s at least some of what the Symposium is about, and Plato is trying to defend Socrates. He’s trying to say, “Let’s take Exhibit A for the claim that Socrates corrupted the youth, Alcibiades, and let’s get to the very heart of what Socrates’s effect on Alcibiades, and let’s look at him slipping away from Socrates towards ambition. Let’s look inside of that and see, whose fault is it? Who’s responsible?” And I think his answer, in the form of Alcibiades’s speech, is that Alcibiades is responsible. But isn’t Alcibiades himself condemning Socrates? He calls him at least twice a Marsyas, who is pummeled and killed for having hubris, and it’s implied in Greek mythology that he deserves it. Alcibiades says, “Well, I wouldn’t go near you without a guardian,” almost implying that was the more rational attitude. Whose side is he on?…

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