The Problem with Plato

The dialogue we read for lecture last week, Plato’s Apology, is a difficult work to approach.  This difficulty goes beyond just the confusion that stems from Socrates’ somewhat convoluted defense, which is mostly a problem of comprehension.  Where things really get messy is when we move on to the question of interpretation.  Why does Plato make the decisions he does in terms of writing the dialogue?  One approach to interpretation would be to say that Plato simply does his best to precisely recount the trial of his mentor, but there are a lot of issues with that claim.  Particularly, we know that Plato wrote many dialogues and that historical accuracy is not the hallmark of his writing.  In fact, my favorite dialogue – yes, dear reader, I have a favorite dialogue – the Gorgias concludes with an extended discussion between Socrates and Callicles, a character for whom we have no historical record outside his inclusion in Plato's dialogue.  So, if Plato’s work is not history, where do we look for interpretive help?  If last week’s lecture was “The Problem with Socrates,” then this question seems to me to be “The Problem with Plato.”

One possibility that I want to put forward in this post is that we can actually look to other dialogues to help us understand what Plato is trying to communicate in the Apology.  In fact, I think we’ve already done that above.  We use other dialogues to dismiss on interpretive framework for reading the Apology.  As luck would have it, there are three dialogues (and part of a fourth) that are directly related to the trial that we get in the Apology – conveniently assembled and available for the low, low price of $5.95, so act now!

We’ll read the dialogue that follows the Apology, the Crito, at the end of the semester, so I won’t spoil our fun with that today.  Instead, I want to talk about what precedes the trial.  Plato gives us a dialogue, Euthyphro, that happens right outside and prior to the trial.  In that dialogue, Socrates is approached by – who else? – Euthyphro, who is also on his way to court.  Socrates quickly finds out that Euthyphro has, in fact, charged his own father with murder, an act that is seen by many of his peers as impious.  Questions of piety and youth going against their parents?!  What a coincidence that those same issues are about to arise in Socrates’ own trial!  Okay… so it’s not a coincidence.  What Plato gives us is a chance to see Socrates question Euthyphro, who (of course) claims to be an expert on piety, about what piety is.  As a result, we get to see Socrates, moments away from his trial, pursuing an understanding of piety so as to convince a son to not prosecute his father.  Despite Socrates' efforts, the dialogue ends with Euthyphro admitting that he doesn’t understand piety and trots off to condemn his father anyway!  Now, this may not directly contradict the charges that Meletus has brought against him, as Socrates doesn’t specifically expound upon his own belief in the gods, but it also shows quite clearly that it is not Socrates who is trying to corrupt the youth so that they rise up against their fathers and tradition.

 Monty Python and the Holy Grail is aware

that trials can be used to assuage fear of disorder

by targeting someone who is different

Now, certainly, we don’t need the Euthyphro to realize that Plato doesn’t think that Socrates is guilty, but the Euthyphro does place a special emphasis on what the underlying concerns about piety and the youth.  Here, we have a genuine fear that the youth of Athens will put their fathers to death – Oedipus? Is that you? – tied up with the affairs of the state, the laws and the gods (remember, separation of church and state is a laughable concept in this context).  Obviously, the set of circumstances that would give rise to a Euthyphro is worrisome to the fathers in Athens.  Those same fathers happen to make up the entire citizenry that sits on Socrates’ jury.  Regardless of the particulars of Socrates’ case, the jury is full of men who are afraid of disorder and the Apology is about how the state reacts in the face of the fear of death that disorder brings.  Or, at least, I want to suggest that the Euthyphro helps to provide further context to support an interpretation like that.

Now, I wonder what the Crito is about…