The Enigma of Socratic Wisdom

After reading Plato's 'Apology', most of us feel an admiration for the special wisdom that makes Socrates 'the wisest of men': the knowledge of what he does and does not know. How puzzling it is, then, when we turn to the 'Charmides' and find Socrates himself refuting the very possibility and utility of such a wisdom! This book surveys how scholars have struggled to make sense of such apparent inconsistencies in Plato, and then presents recent trends in Platonic scholarship towards a new way of reading the dialogues, called the 'double dialogue' or 'maieutic' method. By closely examining the second half of the 'Charmides', the book demonstrates how Plato uses the enigma of Socratic wisdom to challenge his readers to engage actively in their own self-examination in respect of what self-knowledge is. Philosophy for Plato is seen to be something one does, not something one merely receives, and the 'Charmides' is restored to its rightful place among Plato's other epistemological dialogues. This book will help readers wishing to ascertain how best to approach the study of Plato's dialogues and scholars who themselves wrestle with the problem of inconsistencies in Plato.

Will S. Rasmussen, BA in Classics (Dartmouth College, USA), MA in Literae Humaniores (Oxford), PhD (London). He has taught Greek and Latin at secondary school and university, and is currently the Matilal Lecturer in Indian Philosophy at King's College London, where he also lectures in Greek philosophy and teaches Sanskrit.