AAP2010 Abstracts


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Title Prof.
First Name Maureen
Surname Eckert
Institution UMASS Dartmouth
Title of Paper Crito in the Phaedo
Select a Stream Plato
Abstract While Crito is not one of the main interlocutors in the Phaedo, his role does not lack philosophical significance. Sorting out this significance requires an interpretive shift: What is said in philosophical discussion does not exhaust a dialogue’s entire philosophical content. This paper focuses on a specific case. Roslyn Weiss devotes several pages to assessing Crito’s role in the Phaedo in Socrates Dissatisfied (pp. 45-48), but does not fully investigate the whole content of the passage at 115c-116a (or other non-verbal situations in the dialogue), taking the passage literally and as evidence that Socrates has found it futile to persuade Crito via philosophical argument. Her position is that Crito is not merely un-philosophical, but morally shady, and unable to understand his so-called friend Socrates. Yet, more is expressed in the Phaedo concerning Socrates and Crito’s relationship. If we only take claims of its “star philosophers” into account, Crito’s role is that of the body. This interpretation fails to account for what is shown—the deeds—depicted in the dialogue. Crito’s actions have important cultural meanings and Socrates’ often hyperbolic claims about what Crito believes are complicated, if not undermined, by Socrates’ own actions. Crito is not so much a representation of the body, but of thumos. Likewise, the roles of the philosophical interlocutors, Simmias and Cebes, come into a new perspective. As Weiss argues that the Crito and Phaedo can be linked with respect to Plato’s characters, and does so with respect to Crito, the same argument must apply to the characters of Simmas and Cebes mentioned in the Crito. In this case, Simmias and Cebes lack Crito’s spirit and courage, despite their roles as philosophical interlocutors. Weiss’ position about Crito’s character in Socrates Dissatisfied is too strong, and oversimplifies Plato’s depiction of Socratic Companionship.