| Plato's Euthydemus begins with Crito desiring to know with whom Socrates was conversing yesterday at the Lyceum. Socrates reveals it was not one but two, Euthydemus and Dionysodorus. He claims the pair is ultra-wise and that Crito should come with him to be their students. Yet, his narration of his dialogue with them displays them more as clowns than philosophers. Their virtue involves universal refutation. Given x, they will show not-x; given not-x, they will show x. For example, in the first half of the dialogue, they corrupt young Cleinias by teaching him that the wise are both learned and unlearned. In spite of this waffling, Socrates insists that the pair is serious---perhaps because being learned and unlearned is part and parcel to knowledge of ignorance.;At the end of the dialogue, Crito discloses that he is divided about whether to send his son to school. Socrates has already indicated that it is Crito himself who ought to enroll. The motor of the dialogue seems to be that the too playful (Euthydemus and Dionysodorus) must be shown to be serious and the too serious (Crito) must be shown to be playful. One might think in formulae: playful/serious, philosophical/political, practical/theoretical, comedy/tragedy, philosopher/sophist. Everyone agrees that Socrates is the philosopher-hero and Euthydemus and Dionysodorus are the sophistic villains. However, Socrates looks a great deal akin to the pair.;Halfway through the Euthydemus, Crito interrupts to accuse Socrates of inventing speeches. He later admits that, while he finds philosophy good, its practitioners (i.e., Socrates) look strange. One assumes from the Crito and the Phaedo that Crito is Socrates' friend. But Crito cannot sync his regard for Socrates with his disagreement with his profession. He cannot make Socrates singular and he does not know where to send his son to make him singular. His concern over conflicted beings leads him into dialogue. The same concern motivates Euthydemus and Dionysodorus to propose they can neutralize any "one" they encounter. The puzzle is to see how contradiction is behind both dialogue and execution, and so how Plato's silliest dialogue holds the weight of Socrates' trial and death. |
