Date
Fri February 24th 2023, 3:30 - 5:30pm
Location
Building 90-92Q and via Zoom
Title: The Gadfly Midwife Paradox
Abstract: In the Apology, Socrates describes himself as a gadfly, divinely sent to awaken his fellow citizens to their ignorance. He “stings” by asking questions that expose his interlocutors: they lack the knowledge they say they have. In the Theaetetus Socrates describes himself as a midwife, whose interlocutors “discover within themselves a multitude of beautiful things, which they bring forth into the light. But it is I, with God’s help, who deliver them of this offspring.”(150d)
So which one is Socrates: a refutational gadfly who leaves people stunned, bereft and confused ("aporia"), or a helpful midwife whose gentle inquiries birth their beautifully clear idea babies? How does the negative goal of eliminating an interlocutor's false claims to knowledge relate to the positive goal “that the state of each existing thing should become clear.” (Charm. 166d)) (One might have thought the answer would be, "first Socrates refutes, then he inquires," but this divide is to be found nowhere in the dialogues. They are not organized into two distinct stages.)
Also: why should any philosopher who is not a historian of ancient philosophy care about the answer to this question?
I argue that our answer to the gadfly midwife paradox about Socrates teaches us something about philosophy as such: Socratic refutation is inquiry, and our philosophical inquiries can, likewise, only proceed by way of refutation.
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