The Effect of Socrates
Although Socrates, unlike the sophists, offered no courses and took no
fees1, his effect on many people was as upsetting as the relativistic doctrines of the
sophists had been. Indeed, Socrates's refutation of his fellow conversationalists' most
cherished certainties, indirectly expressed through his method of questioning, made some
of his interlocutors decidedly uncomfortable. Unhappiest of all were the fathers whose
sons, after listening to Socrates reduce someone to utter bewilderment, came
home to try the same technique on their parents2. Men who experienced this reversal of the traditional hierarchy of
education between parent and child— the son was supposed to be educated by the
father— had cause to feel that Socrates's effect, even if it was not his
intention, was to undermine the stability of society by questioning Athenian traditions
and inspiring young men to do the same with the passionate enthusiasm of their youth. We
cannot say with certainty what Athenian women thought of Socrates or he of them.
His thoughts about human capabilities and behavior could be applied to women as
well as to men3, and he perhaps believed that women and men both had the same basic capacity for
justice. Nevertheless, the realities of Athenian society meant that Socrates circulated
primarily among men and addressed his ideas to them and their situations. He is,
however, reported to have had numerous conversations with
Aspasia4, the courtesan who lived with Pericles for many years, and
Plato has Socrates attribute his ideas on love to a woman, the otherwise-unknown
priestess
Diotima5 of Mantinea. Whether these contacts were real or fictional devices remains
uncertain.
