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The Socratic Narrative: A Democratic Reading of Plato’s Dialogue

University of Michigan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: awsaxon{at}umich.edu.

	Abstract

Plato wrote dialogues. While there has been attention to the dramatic elements of Plato’s dialogues by a number of scholars, there has been much less attention to the narrative style of the dialogues. I argue that we should consider whether the dialogues are recited or presented like dramatic works with each character speaking his own words—or as a mixture of these narrative forms. By employing this interpretive tool to read the Republic, I illustrate how paying attention to the narrative style enables us to see a democratic Socrates who undermines readings of the Republic famously offered by Karl Popper and Leo Strauss. Plato appears then as neither a defender of the "closed society" nor an advocate of the elite rule of the wise over the many.

First published on August 26, 2009, doi:10.1177/0090591709345461

Political Theory 2009;37:728.

A more recent version of this article appeared on December 1, 2009


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