Dialogues · Chapter
Appendix II explained
In this appendix, Socrates engages in dialogues with Alcibiades, Prodicus, Critias, and others, exploring the nature of knowledge, virtue, and the good.
What happens
In this appendix, Socrates engages in dialogues with Alcibiades, Prodicus, Critias, and others, exploring the nature of knowledge, virtue, and the good. He argues that without knowledge of the best, other arts and skills can be harmful, and that true wisdom is essential for the soul's safe voyage through life. The discussion also touches on the utility of wealth, the role of prayer, and the distinction between opinion and true knowledge.
Themes in this chapter
Knowledge and Ignorance
Socrates emphasizes that without knowledge of the best, other knowledge can be harmful, and that opinion devoid of intelligence leads to anarchy and lawlessness.
Education and Virtue
The dialogue explores whether virtue is innate or acquired by instruction, and how true wisdom is necessary for the soul's well-being.
The Soul and Immortality
Socrates uses the metaphor of the soul as a ship that needs the pilot of knowledge to navigate life safely, suggesting a concern for the soul's ultimate condition.
Characters to notice
- Socrates
Leads the dialogue, arguing that knowledge of the best is essential for benefit, and that opinion without intelligence leads to harm.
- Alcibiades
Engages with Socrates, agreeing that a state lacking knowledge of the best is bad, and that the many trust in opinion devoid of intelligence.
- Prodicus
Debates with a youth about virtue being acquired by instruction, and is later challenged by Socrates regarding prayer and the nature of good things.
- Critias
Discusses with Socrates the utility of wealth, hearing, and medicine for virtue, and reluctantly considers whether bad means can serve good ends.
- Erasistratus
Comments that Critias seems to be saying something of weight, and encourages Socrates to continue the argument.
Key passages
“The state or the soul, therefore, which wishes to have a right existence must hold firmly to this knowledge, just as the sick man clings to the physician, or the passenger depends for safety on the pilot.”
A state or soul that wants to live rightly must cling to the knowledge of the best, like a sick person trusts a doctor or a passenger relies on a pilot.
Socrates emphasizes the necessity of the knowledge of the best for a proper existence.
“For all poetry has by nature an enigmatical character, and it is by no means everybody who can interpret it.”
Poetry is inherently puzzling, and not everyone can understand its meaning.
Socrates explains that poetry often speaks in riddles, requiring wisdom to interpret.
“But can a bad thing be used to carry out a good purpose? Critias: I should say not.”
Socrates asks whether something bad can be used for a good end, and Critias denies it.
This exchange highlights the ethical dilemma of whether evil means can serve virtuous ends.