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Chapter 5 - Between Ascent and Descent*

Self-Knowledge and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2018

James M. Ambury
Affiliation:
King's College, Pennsylvania
Andy German
Affiliation:
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
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Summary

Starting with the Apology, in this chapter the author interprets the Delphic oracle’s insistence that “no one is wiser than Socrates” and refigures it into the claim that the character of the Platonic Socrates himself represents the highest kind of wisdom. Self-knowledge is theoretical then, but in a thoroughly unexpected way. The wisdom of self-knowledge is not so much the equivalent of a constructive epistemology, moral philosophy, or psychology as it is their presupposition and medium. Incorporating insights found in diverse dialogues, from the Laches to the Crito and the Charmides to the Parmenides and Theaetetus, the author argues that Socratic wisdom, insofar as it transmits self-knowledge, is the “container” within which Plato himself constructs his own specific philosophical views. Self-knowledge here is accessed only through self-inquiry, and only by actually assuming this inquiring stance ourselves can we as readers meet the Socrates in our own minds. The chapter is an innovative and provocative reading that situates Socratic self-knowledge at the very heart of philosophy itself.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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