Outline of Phaedrus

Prepared by Kevin Brooks, January 16, 2003

Synopsis:

In this dialogue, Plato has Socrates defend philosophy as superior to rhetoric (a common theme in his work).  He illustrates this superiority through his criticism of Lysias' speech, which was written down and read by Phaedrus.  The subject of Lysias speech, and Socrates two subsequent speeches, is whether or not it is better to be a lover or non-lover.  After Socrates second speech—presumably the speech Plato endorses, although that issue is tricky— we find out that to be a lover is to be philosopher (lover of wisdom), to be a non-lover is to be a rhetorician (un-inspired speech writer). 

The players:

Author:           Plato, student of Socrates; writing about his teacher teaching others.

Phaedrus:        Young student of discourse, disciple of the sophist/ rhetorician Lysias.

Socrates:          Old philosopher, enemy of the sophists. 

Setting:            Under a plane tree, outside Athens, a sacred place (possibly like the plain of Reality the soul ascends to see).

The Dialogue

First speech:

Phaedrus reads speech written by Lysias.  Note that right from the beginning, the issue of whether the speech is written or memorized is introduced.  A memorized speech is considered superior to a read speech. 

Phaedrus admires the speech for its diction; Socrates makes fun of it and claims that it merely says the same thing two different ways.

Second speech:

Socrates covers his head and delivers a speech on the same subject, using some of the same arguments, but claiming his speech to be superior.

Third speech:

Plato dismisses both of the first two speeches and makes a much more elaborate speech, although does not claim it as his own, but as a speech delivered by Stesichorus, son of Euphemus (Man of pious speech), of Himera (town of Desire).

Part 1

Describes the soul as immortal; represents soul as two horses (reason and passion) and a charioteer. The soul, before entering the human body, must be lead by "a god to a plain of Reality."  How much one sees and remembers of reality determines what kind of person the soul will form:  Philosophers and lawful rulers remember the most; sophists and tyrants remember the least.  The philosopher is thought to be mad because he is not concerned with everyday events, but is always remembering the beauty of Reality: He who loves the beautiful partakes in madness, and is called a lover.

Part 2

Starts with horses again; describes the process of taming the passionate horse; consequently

the lover must follow the beloved in reverence and awe.  Socrates describes love as flowing over and flowing into beloved, and he describes the struggle of the lover and the beloved to resist their passions.  If they do so, they have achieved true Platonic love.  If they don't—and most don't—the lovers who have consummated their love at least have sprouted the wings on their souls to start them on the assent back to Reality.  The journey will take several tries.

Apostrophe (address to the god, Love): Socrates blames Lysias for anything foolish that has been said, and he hopes Phaedrus will be led toward love and philosophical discourse.

Theory of speech and writing:

The writer must know the truth to properly persuade an audience because rhetoric deals with "that which is in doubt."  The method of division and synthesis  (dialectic) is the proper aid to speech.  Phaedrus asks about the importance of the textbooks; Socrates sees them as only a very small part of writing: "All great arts demand discussion and high speculation about nature." A true rhetorician must know the soul and produce conviction in the soul (in other words, a rhetorician who wishes to be a philosopher). 

Socrates then makes a brief effort to "defend the wolf," the sophist (although Phaedrus also means "wolf").  Sophists claim that a rhetorician only needs to know "the probable" and not the true.  Socrates concedes that we might not always know the true, but it is more noble to purse truth than merely the probable. 

Socrates discusses the propriety and impropriety of writing.  He starts with the myth of the invention of letters, which illustrates that writing damages, rather than improves or extends memory.  Writing is play; serious discourse must be spoken, and the seed must be planted properly.  A philosopher shows through his spoken words how little use his written words are.  Writing decreases, rather than increases, certainty and clearness.

The dialogue ends with a joke and a prayer: Socrates says that he thinks Isocrates will make a great philosopher rather than rhetorician (Isocrates was a rhetorician at the time Plato wrote this);  Socrates prays that his soul may be made beautiful, and that the external world be in harmony with his inner world.