Philosophy 101 (Bentley College)

Assignment for Monday, September 20

Reading:

Aristophanes, The Clouds, translated by Ian Johnston
Plato, Apology (in Five Dialogues), marginal nos. 17a–24b (pp. 21–28, including the translator's introduction)

Notes and questions:

The name "Aristophanes" is pronounced with the accent on the "stoph"; the final "es" is syllabic (as in "Socrates").
This reading assignment is exceptional in two ways. First, I do not require you to print out the text of Aristophanes' The Clouds or to bring it to class, as I ordinarily require you to do with electronic texts. If you prefer to read it on line, you may do so (a print-out will most likely cover between 60 and 80 pages, depending on how you adjust the print size). Second, I do not require you to read the text with the same close attention with which I expect you to read philosophical texts (and that includes the Apology). I am assigning this play so that you may gain an appreciation of how Socrates was popularly regarded in his own time.
A historical note: As the translator remarks (p. 23, n. 4), The Clouds was performed in 423 B.C.E., some 24 years before Socrates' trial; Socrates was, therefore, about 36 years old at the time that the play was written. Socrates alludes to the play in the Apology at 18d.
Compare the Socrates represented in Plato's Euthyphro with the Socrates represented in The Clouds. Granted that Aristophanes takes the license of the satirist to exaggerate, is the Socrates of his play even recognizable as the same man as the one in the Euthyphro? What features of Plato's Socrates can you find in the Socrates of Aristophanes? To put the point another way, if we presume Plato's representation of Socrates to be accurate, does Aristophanes' representation of him have any basis in fact? (For more on satire, see the translator's introduction to The Clouds.)
Note that, as Grube says at p. 21, the word "apology," as commonly understood in English today, does not aptly express the meaning of Plato's Greek title: Apologia Sokratous means "Socrates' Defense Speech," and has nothing to do with apologizing.
In his speech, Socrates distinguishes between the "first accusations" made against him by popular opinion, and the "later accusations" made against him in this court of law (18a–c and 19b–c). What are these "first accusations"? Do you find them implied by Aristophanes' treatment of Socrates in The Clouds?
How does Socrates answer his "first accusers"? How does he account for the popular suspicions that have arisen against him?
Socrates claims to have "a certain kind of wisdom" (20d). What is this wisdom?
Why, according to his own account, has Socrates gone about interrogating people with a reputation for wisdom, despite the fact that doing so has made him unpopular (21b–22e)? How does he interpret the words of the oracle (23a–b)?