The famous passage on “Socratic midwifery” at Theaet. 149a-151 has long puzzled scholars. The vast majority of scholars attributes midwifery to the historical Socrates (Taylor 1911, Burnet 1916, Cornford 1935, Humbert 1967, Guthrie 1971, Tarrant 1988, Cianci 2018), while others think that the passage at Theaet. 149a-151 should be taken as reflecting a development of Plato’s mature thought, given its (implicit and/or explicit) implications with the theory of recollection outlined in the Meno (Burnyeat 1977, Vlastos 1994, Sedley 2004). It is a well-known fact that “Socratic midwifery” plays a key role in Theaetetus (see not only 149a-151e, but also 157c-d, 160e-161b, 161e, 184b, 210b), but seems to be absent from the rest of the Platonic corpus. The metaphor of pregnancy occurs in another famous passage of Plato, Symp. 206d-207a. But Socrates plays here no specific role as a midwife; and birth is conceived as “immortal” and “in beauty”. The sole fact that Diotima imparts this view to Socrates makes it likely that here Plato is putting forward his own idea of education, in a deliberate attempt to sift it from Socrates’ practice of elenchus. In my paper, I claim that such an attempt can be also found in the passage Theaet. 149a-151d, and that, consequently, “Socratic Midwifery” should be understood as a concept Plato devises to distance himself from both Socrates and the Socratics of his own generation. It is important to note that the abovementioned passages of Theaetetus are the sole occurrences of “Socratic midwifery” not only in Plato’s work; we find this image in no other passage of Socratic literature. Some scholars have pointed at two verses of Aristophanes’ Clouds (135-137) in which a “miscarriage” of ideas is parodied. The verb implied by Aristophanes (exambloo) is the same occurring at Theaet. 150e4, a coincidence suggesting that the “historical Socrates” indeed practiced midwifery (see e.g. Tarrant 1988 and Cianci 2018). I think that this is too hasty an inference. The verses 135-137 have no direct reference to Socrates: the miscarriage is not Socrates’, but that of his pupils. The two verses seem to be related to other passages of Aristophanes, where he uses the metaphor of implanting his own ideas in another’s womb (at both Clouds 529-533 and Wasps 1043-1045). Aristophanes wants to highlight that “other women” carried out the pregnancy of his own “children”, hinting here at the fact that before his official debut with Knights (staged in 424) he had written two plays without producing them (Banqueters, in 427, and Babylonians, in 426). It is interesting to note that Aristophanes explicitly equates himself to a woman who helps other women generate offspring – like in Theaetetus Plato equates Socrates to a midwife and Socrates’ pupils to pregnant women. The major difference is that Aristophanes uses this image to describe himself as an extraordinarily fertile playwright; whereas Plato depicts Socrates as a midwife in order to show that he is “barren” and “too old to have children himself”. Another important issue tackled at Theaet. 149a-151d is that of “matchmaking” (proagogeia): Socrates is an excellent midwife not only because he can tell better than anyone else whether women are pregnant or not, but also because he knows which kind of couples produce the best children (149d-150a). This applies especially to young men who seek paideia: the midwife Socrates knows which teachers are best suited to educate them (151d). Also in this case, it seems evident that Plato draws from an existing motif, that of “matchmaking” (proagogeia or mastropeia). Socrates has not let this ability be known and does not want Theaetetus to make a public accusation of it (149a). Matchmaking is attributed to the Pericles’ mistress Aspasia by another Socratic, Aeschines of Sphettus. In a dialogue named after the famous hetaera, Aeschines had portrayed Aspasia while instructing Xenophon and his wife about how to become excellent in marriage (SSR IV A 59-72). Aspasia’s art of matchmaking plays a crucial role also in Xenophon’s Memorabilia, where Socrates claims that he had learned matchmaking from Aspasia (2.6.36-9). In a section of Symposium, Xenophon attributes matchmaking both to Socrates and Antisthenes (4.59-64). It is very likely that Aeschines’s Aspasia, as well the two passages from Xenophon, are earlier than Plato’s Theaetetus (written around 369). My working hypothesis is that in Theaet. 149a-151, Plato reshapes the motif of the “matchmaking Socrates” he knows from other Socratics by merging it with the midwife-motif he draws from Aristophanes. The resulting image of “Socratic midwifery” is therefore a fictional conglomeration. Plato uses it to dwell on his own creativity as a philosophical writer, but also to show that Socrates is nothing but “a barren old woman… unable to generate offspring”.

How Socratic Is “Socratic midwifery”? Contextualizing Tht. 149a–151d

stavru alessandro
2022-01-01

Abstract

The famous passage on “Socratic midwifery” at Theaet. 149a-151 has long puzzled scholars. The vast majority of scholars attributes midwifery to the historical Socrates (Taylor 1911, Burnet 1916, Cornford 1935, Humbert 1967, Guthrie 1971, Tarrant 1988, Cianci 2018), while others think that the passage at Theaet. 149a-151 should be taken as reflecting a development of Plato’s mature thought, given its (implicit and/or explicit) implications with the theory of recollection outlined in the Meno (Burnyeat 1977, Vlastos 1994, Sedley 2004). It is a well-known fact that “Socratic midwifery” plays a key role in Theaetetus (see not only 149a-151e, but also 157c-d, 160e-161b, 161e, 184b, 210b), but seems to be absent from the rest of the Platonic corpus. The metaphor of pregnancy occurs in another famous passage of Plato, Symp. 206d-207a. But Socrates plays here no specific role as a midwife; and birth is conceived as “immortal” and “in beauty”. The sole fact that Diotima imparts this view to Socrates makes it likely that here Plato is putting forward his own idea of education, in a deliberate attempt to sift it from Socrates’ practice of elenchus. In my paper, I claim that such an attempt can be also found in the passage Theaet. 149a-151d, and that, consequently, “Socratic Midwifery” should be understood as a concept Plato devises to distance himself from both Socrates and the Socratics of his own generation. It is important to note that the abovementioned passages of Theaetetus are the sole occurrences of “Socratic midwifery” not only in Plato’s work; we find this image in no other passage of Socratic literature. Some scholars have pointed at two verses of Aristophanes’ Clouds (135-137) in which a “miscarriage” of ideas is parodied. The verb implied by Aristophanes (exambloo) is the same occurring at Theaet. 150e4, a coincidence suggesting that the “historical Socrates” indeed practiced midwifery (see e.g. Tarrant 1988 and Cianci 2018). I think that this is too hasty an inference. The verses 135-137 have no direct reference to Socrates: the miscarriage is not Socrates’, but that of his pupils. The two verses seem to be related to other passages of Aristophanes, where he uses the metaphor of implanting his own ideas in another’s womb (at both Clouds 529-533 and Wasps 1043-1045). Aristophanes wants to highlight that “other women” carried out the pregnancy of his own “children”, hinting here at the fact that before his official debut with Knights (staged in 424) he had written two plays without producing them (Banqueters, in 427, and Babylonians, in 426). It is interesting to note that Aristophanes explicitly equates himself to a woman who helps other women generate offspring – like in Theaetetus Plato equates Socrates to a midwife and Socrates’ pupils to pregnant women. The major difference is that Aristophanes uses this image to describe himself as an extraordinarily fertile playwright; whereas Plato depicts Socrates as a midwife in order to show that he is “barren” and “too old to have children himself”. Another important issue tackled at Theaet. 149a-151d is that of “matchmaking” (proagogeia): Socrates is an excellent midwife not only because he can tell better than anyone else whether women are pregnant or not, but also because he knows which kind of couples produce the best children (149d-150a). This applies especially to young men who seek paideia: the midwife Socrates knows which teachers are best suited to educate them (151d). Also in this case, it seems evident that Plato draws from an existing motif, that of “matchmaking” (proagogeia or mastropeia). Socrates has not let this ability be known and does not want Theaetetus to make a public accusation of it (149a). Matchmaking is attributed to the Pericles’ mistress Aspasia by another Socratic, Aeschines of Sphettus. In a dialogue named after the famous hetaera, Aeschines had portrayed Aspasia while instructing Xenophon and his wife about how to become excellent in marriage (SSR IV A 59-72). Aspasia’s art of matchmaking plays a crucial role also in Xenophon’s Memorabilia, where Socrates claims that he had learned matchmaking from Aspasia (2.6.36-9). In a section of Symposium, Xenophon attributes matchmaking both to Socrates and Antisthenes (4.59-64). It is very likely that Aeschines’s Aspasia, as well the two passages from Xenophon, are earlier than Plato’s Theaetetus (written around 369). My working hypothesis is that in Theaet. 149a-151, Plato reshapes the motif of the “matchmaking Socrates” he knows from other Socratics by merging it with the midwife-motif he draws from Aristophanes. The resulting image of “Socratic midwifery” is therefore a fictional conglomeration. Plato uses it to dwell on his own creativity as a philosophical writer, but also to show that Socrates is nothing but “a barren old woman… unable to generate offspring”.
2022
Socrates, Aristophanes, Xenophon, Maieutics
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/1088813
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