City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2020 In and Out of Character: Socratic Mimēsis Mateo Duque The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3629 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] IN AND OUT OF CHARACTER: SOCRATIC MIMĒSIS by MATEO DUQUE A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2020 Copyright © 2020 MATEO DUQUE All Rights Reserved ii In and Out of Character: Socratic Mimēsis by Mateo Duque This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Iakovos Vasiliou Chair of Examining Committee Date Nickolas Pappas Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Nickolas Pappas Iakovos Vasiliou Peter Phillips Simpson Gerald A. Press THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii This dissertation is dedicated to all my teachers (beginning with my parents, Adriana and Efrain; continuing with teachers, like Mrs. Linda Janoff at Pine View; as well as Professors, like Mike Michalson at New College of Florida, Alex Levine at the University of South Florida, and Nick Pappas at the CUNY Graduate Center—to name just a few examples). It’s dedicated to all those who strive to teach themselves and others as best they can, and to the Abiding Teacher—Life, Nature, the Cosmos, natura naturans—and to its constant questioners, seekers, and thinkers. We are always, and in all ways, your students. New York, 2020. iv ABSTRACT In and Out of Character: Socratic Mimēsis by Mateo Duque Advisor: Nickolas Pappas In the Republic, Plato has Socrates attack poetry’s use of mimēsis, often translated as ‘imitation’ or ‘representation.’ Various scholars (e.g. Blondell 2002; Frank 2018; Halliwell 2009; K. Morgan 2004) have noticed the tension between Socrates’ theory critical of mimēsis and Plato’s literary practice of speaking through various characters in his dialogues. However, none of these scholars have addressed that it is not only Plato the writer who uses mimēsis but also his own character, Socrates. At crucial moments in several dialogues, Socrates takes on a role and speaks as someone else. I call these moments “Socratic mimēsis.” While previous commentators have noticed some of these moments, they have either overstated their rarity or they have not studied them collectively. My dissertation is the first in-depth investigation of this phenomenon in the dialogues. Socrates’ dramatic imitation of others is way of teaching in a voice separate from his own, and it is also a way for Plato to speak to, and to educate, different kinds of audiences. Although “Socratic mimēsis” occurs throughout the Platonic corpus, I focus on three passages from three different dialogues, which are paradigm instances: [1] in the Crito Socrates plays the part of ‘the Laws’ (50a-54c); [2] in the Theaetetus he acts the part of ‘Protagoras’ (166a-168c); and [3] in the Menexenus he recites a funeral speech learned from ‘Aspasia’ (236d-249c). Instead of one-sidedly reading the dialogues as either only literary works of art or as only a v series of philosophical arguments, this study gleans philosophic insights from the literary and dramatic details of the dialogues. In chapter one I argue that in the Crito Socrates tries to convince Crito of a universal and absolute ethics based on never committing injustice, but Crito is not able to understand. In order to make Crito more just—but not yet at the level of Socratic ethics—Socrates creates ‘the Laws’ to persuade Crito to expand his personal notion of justice. Socrates instills a political obedience in place of Crito’s existing lawlessness as a second-best recourse. Plato expects the astute listener or reader to see the contrast between Socrates’ earlier ethical principles, said in his own voice, with what he says in the voice of ‘the Laws.’ In chapter two I argue that in the part of the Theaetetus where Socrates defends Protagoras (often called ‘the Defense’), Socrates, by imitating ‘Protagoras,’ is actually criticizing Protagorean relativism. The Protagorean theory cannot account for mimēsis and Socrates’ mimetic act performatively contradicts the identity of appearance and reality, which the theory presupposes. Finally, in chapter three I argue that in the Menexenus the funeral oration that Socrates recounts for Menexenus that he heard from ‘Aspasia’ is actually a disguised criticism of political rhetoric and of Athenian imperialism. Although the speech is never interrogated within the dialogue, Plato provokes the listener or reader outside the dialogue to question its message and to see how it conflicts with many of Socrates’ positions in other dialogues. Beyond reconsidering the long-standing and persistent view that Plato was against poetry and mimetic performance, I re-examine the role that performance and role-playing can have in philosophy and pedagogy more generally. Actors, by taking on other personas, and audience members, in observing actors and their actions, are both involved in acts of imagination that can expand their horizon of thinking and feeling. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For me, getting my doctorate was a long and circuitous journey, and so there are many people I wish to acknowledge and thank. I want to thank my high school English teacher at Pine View, Mrs. Linda Janoff; she was the one who first inspired a love of texts, and writing, and helped me to express my thoughts on these matters in written and spoken form. In 1998-1999, I took her AP Language class and I learned to really read, to learn from books that were long, complex, complicated, and filled ideas that made me think about life. I also want to thank several New College Professors from 2000-2005: Mike Michalson, David Schatz, David Brain, Douglas Langston, Douglas Berggren, April Flakne, Miriam Wallace, and John Moore. These professors further made me fall in love with reading challenging books (about philosophy, religion, Russian literature, sociology, social theory, Plato, etc.). They taught me not to be afraid to think about these texts for myself, to write about them, and to learn from them in a way that enriched my life, overall—not just intellectually or academically. It’s too hard to name all the classmates from New College from whom I learned and to whom I owe so much. Instead I want to acknowledge my gratitude to the entire (but small) student body at my alma mater, (the generous mother, that is) New College of Florida, from 2000-2005. It was a chance encounter with (now Dr.) Jessica Williams, with whom I went to school at New College of Florida (NCF), that rekindled my desire to go back to academia to finish my bachelor’s degree and pursue a graduate degree in philosophy. When I went back to school, I didn’t go back to NCF, I went to the University of South Florida (USF). I want to thank two amazing University of South Florida (USF) Professors. I would like to thank Alex Levine, who was my undergraduate advisor, and he allowed me to take graduate level courses. He introduced me to analytic philosophy and philosophy of science in a vii way which gripped me. He was also part of my undergraduate thesis committee (along with Professor Joanne Waugh), which was on Plato’s Symposium. I also want to thank USF professor David “Deeg” Garrison, who probably doesn’t know it, but he is one of the main motivations for why I specialized in Plato. His Ancient Philosophy class that I took in the summer of 2009 is still a touchstone for me. I also want to thank all the USF philosophy graduate students, as they adopted me as one of their own even though I was technically an undergraduate. I especially want to thank Erica Oshiro, Muhammad Velji, and Jeff Hinzman; as well as all these (then) USF philosophy graduate students, (now) doctors: Dr. Jessica Williams, Dr. Mark Castricone, Dr. Pete Olen, Dr. Brian Dunst, Dr. Andrea Pitts, Dr. David Eck, and Dr. Liz Victor. Now, I’ve finally joined their ranks. I also made friends in some of my undergraduate classes (especially my summer Latin course); I want to acknowledge Anthony Murphy, Luigi, and Victor Luis Zamora, for helping get through my classes at USF. My first year in New York when I moved to study at the CUNY Graduate Center, I was extremely lucky to live with two longtime friends who I met at New College of Florida, Aidan Delgado and Ingmar Gorman. They were instrumental in helping me acclimate to NYC and in making me ‘feel at home’ far away from home. Thank you to Ross Colebrook, a fellow CUNY Graduate Center philosophy PhD student (who started at the same time as me), for living with me my second year. I’m especially thankful to the CUNY Latin/Greek Institute and Rita Fleischer. I received the Floyd L. Moreland Scholarship to take the intensive basic ancient Greek class the summer of 2012. Thanks to my teachers Aramis López, Bill Pagonis, and Hardy Hansen, and to some of my fellow classmates, Eric MacPhail, Justin Alimaras, and David Perry. It was because of them that I was able to learn an incredible amount of ancient Greek in a short amount of time. To this day, “the Institute” was probably one of the most intense academic viii experiences I’ve completed; it was a difficult but rewarding 10 weeks in the summer.