ソクラテスの衝撃
1992 年 1992 巻 66 号 p. 59-72
詳細
1992 年 1992 巻 66 号 p. 59-72
Socratic education consisted in a series of steps in the formation of man by testing people, telling them to take care of their souls and make much of αρετη : human excellence. Along the way of this education he caused a great shock to people; people experiencing this shock reacted in different ways. In that sense, it meant the climax of socratic education. Now, what is precisely the content of this shock?
(1) Socrates shocks people by declaring that they are ignorant about the essence of arêtê. In this case, people experience a great shock by becoming aware that they do not know about the essence of αρετη which they ought to know, and when they are told, “you are not good citizens”.
But there is also another shock :
(2) Alcibiades is made aware of his self-contradiction that he does not do the good deed which he ought to do if he were a good citizen. He experiences a great shock realizing that his self is divided into three selves and that these are in conflict with each other.
From the content of this shock, the soul according to Socrates, consists of three selves and the care of soul means philosophizing about the normative wisdom of αρεη and harmonizing one self with the two other selves by wisdom. This is Socrates' formation of man, education.
Socrates educates people by following several steps : In doing to, he himself stands always one step higher than his partner - in this sense he is a good educator. Judging from these facts, the substance of socratic education consists in the task of harmonizing the three selves by letting people arrive at the wisdom of the better norm.
