Abstract

My dissertation analyzes the narrative aspects of Plato's Symposium and explores their philosophical implications. ;The first half of the dissertation has three aims: to establish the pervasiveness of narration in the Symposium, to delineate the characteristics of Socrates' narrative-practice of philosophy and the subsequent appropriation of it by Alcibiades, Aristodemus, and Apollodorus, and to suggest the possibility of a postmodern interpretation of the Symposium. While the Symposium seems to promote narration as a prescriptive course, or pharmakon, for self-knowledge, it also indicates that narrative self-knowledge should not supplement philosophy. The Symposium pictures the dangers of an exuberant embrace of narrative practices. ;The second half of my dissertation develops Plato's criticism of Socrates' narrative-based philosophy. My argument unfolds in three stages. In the first, I assert that Plato criticizes Socrates' narrative-based philosophy on the grounds that it engenders Socratic discipleship. In the second, I isolate three characteristics of Socrates' use of narration responsible for his failure to evoke philosophical reflection in his disciples. These characteristics are the personalized context in which Socrates' narrations inevitably occur, the necessarily linguistic and discursive nature of a narration, and narration's implicit promise of complete knowledge. Thirdly, I discuss Plato's use of narration as distinct from Socrates' use of narration. The anonymous stance Plato maintains throughout his dialogues attempts to overcome the philosophical limitations of Socrates' narrative dependency. Plato's absence from the dialogues is an ongoing critique of Socrates' overbearing presence in the practice of philosophy. ;As a conclusion, I analyze the Platonic Epistles. The Letters reveal two fundamental differences between Plato and Socrates. In addition to their emphasis on the non-linguistic aspects of philosophy, the Letters level another criticism against Socrates. Socrates perverts the possibility of bringing philosophy into concert with politics