The Wise Men: Notes on Plato’s Phaedrus

摘要

On Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates, in his Second Speech (243e9-257b6), decides to make a demonstration [aπoδειξιc] that the madness of love was given to us by gods for our happiness. This consists in finding the truth abou t human nature of the soul [ψυχncφvσεωc], both divine and human. We take this demonstration as an object of our analysis, specifically the passage 245c, where Socrates will affirm that demonstration will be only credible by the wise men (sophoí) and incredible by skilled (deinoí). This work aims to clarify what kind of distinction is that made by Socrates and why only the wise men can believe in such a demonstration.