Topics Philosophers

Question Would Socrates consider any of the professional academics on this site, who offer themselves for anyone who wants to ask anything, philosophers?

Accepted:
April 4, 2013

Comments

Interesting question --not unlike questions like "Would Jesus recognize those who call themselves 'Christians' as true followers of him? Or would Marx recognize those who call themselves 'Marxists' truly followers of his work? I think Socrates might have a few things to say to us all. Here are four things Socrates might communicate to you and I:

First, Socrates might prefer that philosophical dialogue take place in person rather than through writing. In one of Plato's dialogues Socrates expressed some misgivings about writing. He (or at least the character 'Socrates' in the dialogue) argued that in-person dialogue was superior to writing for when we engage in dialogue (practicing philosophy) we can pick up clues straightaway about whether one has been misunderstood or has offended or pleased one's dialogue partner. Maybe Socrates might suggest this site includes skyping and audio transmission.

Second, Socrates might be especially pleased about this site, for while we are each "professional" philosophers (that is, all or most of us work in institutions that support our teaching, research, and publishing with a livable wage), we are not paid anything for our participation in AskPhilosophers. Socrates was not paid to philosophize. In fact, he himself seemed to pay the ultimate price for his philosophizing: he was executed after being condemned legally in 399 BCE in Athens. So, I suggest Socrates might especially like it when philosophers engage in their practice without economic compensation. (Though he did suggest that those who condemned him in Athens might supply him with active support, so perhaps he was not wholly anti-professional.)

Third, I think Socrates would not have been bothered by the fact that all or most of the philosophers on this site are in academies. He might say: "Well, I was not part of an academy. I think philosophy can and should be done outside the academy and yet that student and friend of mine, Plato, did quite well in starting an academy and his student Aristotle went on to found another community of philosophical inquiry." I think Socrates would be horrified if most people thought that proper philosophy should only be done by professional philosophers in academies, but we have no reason to think he would find the practice of philosophy in the academy problematic.

Fourth, and this may be the most difficult to determine, but Socrates would probably remind us (those on the panel) not to be over-confident in our replies. A Socratic approach to the questions that arise is one that would involve self-questioning.

I hope that we would all please Socrates on this last point, but if I take Socrates seriously, perhaps this is a question and a matter for us all to keep in mind and not fall into dogmatic, over-confidence. If philosophy demands humility, then perhaps humility is something that needs to be practiced daily, and it is not the sort of thing the person herself or himself is best positioned to tell whether humility has been achieved.

All good wishes, CT

Your question combines two thoughts about Socrates that are often put together: that he never charged a fee for talking to people, and that (therefore) he was available to everyone. For you describe the panelists as offering themselves "for anyone who wants to ask anyone."

Now, it's true that in some portrayals, especially those written by Xenophon, Socrates equates the non-payment with a spirit of democratic openness. Not charging tuition or other fees means (on this interpretation of Socrates) being free to all. But a fascinating article from nearly thirty years ago, David Blank's "Socratics versus Sophists on Payment for Teaching," challenges this assumption. Blank grants the distinction between Socrates and the sophists on the basis of their charging (high) fees for instruction while he charged nothing. He only questions whether Socrates' purpose was to give his time and effort to all who wanted it.

On the contrary, says Blank, sometimes it appears that Socrates keeps himself free by not charging money. If he were to charge a fee he would be obligated to keep company with the one who paid it. Then it wouldn't be up to him to choose who deserved his company and who did not. What seems very democratic at first in his practice turns out to be an aristocratic attitude, one that holds itself above the vulgar earning of a wage.

So, to get back to your question: Socrates may well applaud the panelists' love of philosophical discourse that keeps them answering the questions people send in. He might only look askance at their democratic desire to send philosophical comments out for all to read. For all his merits, Socrates was a profoundly anti-democratic thinker, and we don't want to paper over that side of him.

Question Would Socrates consider any of the professional academics on this site, who offer themselves for anyone who wants to ask anything, philosophers? Accepted:April 4, 2013

Question Would Socrates consider any of the professional academics on this site, who offer themselves for anyone who wants to ask anything, philosophers?

Accepted:
April 4, 2013