Q33: Compare Socrates’ self-description as a midwife with his self-description as a gadfly. What do these metaphors suggest about the role of the philosopher as educator?

33. Compare Socrates’ self-description as a midwife with his self-description as a gadfly. What do these metaphors suggest about the role of the philosopher as educator?

[AT note: almost completely Dan Padgett 2011. My additions in brackets.]

1. Socrates as a midwife (Theatetus)

a.     Midwives in general

                                               i.     They donʼt practice midwifery until they are past child-bearing; thus, this is thought of as an honorable art.

                                             ii.     They can tell better than anyone else whether a woman is pregnant [and when she is going into labor.]

                                            iii.     They can bring on pains and relieve them, as well as bring about birth or a miscarriage.

                                            iv.     They are good matchmakers; they know who will produce good children together.

                                             v.     Barren women cannot practice this art because they have no experience. [NB: Socrates claims to be barren.]

b.     Socrates as a midwife

                                               i.     Differences to midwives.

1.   He has the additional complication of distinguishing between phantoms and realities in delivery.

2.   He deals with men, not women.

3.   He looks over souls, not bodies.

                                             ii.     Similarities to midwives

1.   He claims that he too is barren of wisdom.

                                            iii.     The people he is midwife to

1.   Socrates only helps men come to knowledge; he does not teach them anything.

2.   Some men leave him before they should, and consequently suffer a “miscarriage” and are deemed fools.

3.   The men who come to Socrates suffer labor pains.

4.   If Socrates does not think a man pregnant, he will play match-maker and suggest someone with whom the man may profitably keep company.

5.   If Socrates believes thinks a man only has a phantom he will take it away, which has resulted in people being angry at him. [Concrete examples?]

2.  Socrates as a gadfly (Apology)

a.     Just as a “great and noble horse which was somewhat sluggish because of its size” can be stirred up by a gadfly, so too does Socrates believe that he has been sent by the gods to stir up Athens.

b.     This is not an easy job.

                                               i.     People can be “easily annoyed with [Socrates] as people are when they are roused from a doze, and strike out” at Socrates.

                                             ii.     By killing Socrates, the Athenians will be able to go back to sleep, unless the gods send another gadfly.

                                            iii.     The proof that Socrates is a gadfly is the fact that he is poor and has neglected his own affairs for the sake of the wellbeing of the people.

3. Comparison

a.     Overall, the gadflyʼs role is to wake people up, while the midwifeʼs role is to help those who are already interested in finding out the truth.

b.     Who he interacts with:

                                               i.     As a midwife, Socrates helps people come to truth--or rids them of a phantom--when they are “pregnant” with an idea.

                                             ii.     As a gadfly, Socrates is not necessarily concerned with those who are eager to seek the truth, but rather to rouse people from laziness.

c.     Reactions to his trade

                                               i.     People both love and hate Socrates as a midwife.

1.   When Socrates allows someone to give birth, they are thankful [examples?]; when he forces a “miscarriage” they are often angry [examples?].

                                             ii.     No one seems to like the gadfly.

d.     The role of the philosopher as educator.

                                               i.     Since the midwife does not procreate, the philosopher here does not actually teach, but merely assists people on their search for truth.

The gadfly is meant to rouse people from their slumber. Here the philosopherʼs job as an educator is to get people to question what they claim to know, i.e. to force them to think.