Plato’s Ion: Imagery Versus Mastery

Plato’s Ion is a short dialogue, but in its 11 pages raises the important question of how we distinguish what we think we know of a subject from true mastery of the subject matter. What are the authoritative sources for our own knowledge?

The character Ion is a rhapsode, whose profession in ancient Greece was to recite works of prestigious poets. Ion proclaims himself an expert on the poetry of Homer, the epic poet to whom Plato refers in many of his dialogues. To Ion, there is no greater authority than Homer on the subjects that occupy Homer’s poetry – so much so that Ion believes himself to be the best general in Greece after reading and memorizing the skills of generalship portrayed in Homer’s poetry.

Socrates proposes that Homer’s poetic representations were the product of a divine inspiration that gripped the poet’s soul, and did not represent any mastery of subjects like generalship, medicine, chariot-driving, or ship-captaincy. Beautiful as the imagery conjured by a poet such as Homer is, Socrates asserts that it a representation of what might be true, but not the truth itself. Thus, he declares to Ion that rhapsodes such as him “turn out to be representatives of representatives.”

It's a point that Ion doesn’t seem to appreciate, not recognizing the logical contradictions into which Socrates steers him while he clings to his professional practices in the belief they are more valuable than mastery of what he professes to know.

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Our discussion will be recorded in voice only without video, using first name as it appears on your screen profile, and broadcast on the “Plato’s Pod” Podcast for those who would like to share in our knowledge. We can go anywhere the group wishes, for which some suggested themes will be offered. Wherever our discussion leads, Plato, without a doubt, would have imagined no better way than in dialogue for knowledge – the account of the reasons why – to multiply its connections. We welcome the sharing of all perspectives, whether you are new to or experienced with Plato. Recordings of previous episodes of the Plato’s Pod podcast are at https://open.spotify.com/show/53Zvjr7avMylQgNqfqBxlk?si=7b50d100bfc4474d and other podcast platforms.

After the podcast recording ends in two hours, participants are welcome to remain for “Plato’s Café”, a casual half-hour discussion of your choice of themes from any of Plato’s works, or philosophy in general.

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There are many translations of Plato's works available, of varying quality. Your public library will have multiple editions. A free translation of the Symposium is available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ or at https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1635. Participants in our entire series might be interested in purchasing Plato: Complete Works (https://www.amazon.ca/Plato-Complete-Works/dp/0872203492/).

FRIDAY BEFORE THE MEETUP: We will post selections from the reading for discussion on a shared drive for participants at https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqvPwkIofv4UaFldrPpbva3VSXI?e=3Y7PjP, where you can also find topics explored in our previous meetups. Our meetings will generally be scheduled every two weeks on Sunday at 2 p.m. eastern. During our dialogue, participants are encouraged to relate their comments to Plato's text, referring to the Stephanus number for the passage so others can follow in the reading. Participants are also encouraged to read the text aloud for the meaning of the written word to resonate.

The Meetup will take place on Zoom. Please RSVP to access the Zoom link at your Meetup account.