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From Myth to Mind
December 7, 1998
The Pythagorean Plato & the Platonic Academy
A. Discussion Questions on Plato's ION
1. What is a rhapsode [or rhapsodist]? What is the difference between a rhapsode and a poet?
2. How does Plato portray Ion's character throughout? Is he a respectable representative of the guild of professional rhapsodists?
3. How should one judge Socrates' sincerity when he announces "I often envy the profession of a rhapsode, Ion; for you have always to wear fine clothes, and to look as beautiful as you can is a part of your art"? Is Ion's profession an art?
4. What does 'better interpreter ' mean in Socrates' question: "Would you or a good prophet be a better interpreter of what these two poets say about divination, not only when they agree, but when they disagree?" ? [286]
5. Do all the "other poets sing of the same" theme as Socrates alleges? [286]
6. What is the meaning of 'good speaker ' in Socrates' examples of the arithmetician and the physician? [286 - 287]
7. In what spirit is the following question asked [on p. 287]? Is it a logical conclusion?
"Then my dear friend, can I be mistaken in saying that Ion is equally skilled in Homer and in other poets, since he himself acknowledges that the same personwill be a good judge of all those who speak of the same things; and that almostall poets do speak of the same things?"
8. Is the 'art' of speaking of Homer, which Socrates says that Ion does NOT possess [287], any different than the 'art' which Socrates attributes to Ion, and which he says he envies [285]?
9. By what divine channel does the 'power divine ' which inspires the poet impart the arts of prosody? [289]
10. Is the meaning of 'right mind' in the passage on the inspiration of the poet the same meaning in the passage describing the rhapsode's performance "at a sacrifice or festival" [290]?
11. What is Plato's purpose in having Ion say: "for if I make them cry I myself shall laugh, and if I make them laugh I myself shall cry when the time of payment arrives" ?
12. What is implied if Ion's profession is not an art? Can inspiration be taught?
13. When Ion first offers to give a recitation, Socrates declines [286]. When Ion again offers to prove his expertise, Socrates again declines until Ion has answered more questions [291]. At the conclusion, Socrates chides Ion for being a deceiver and refusing to exhibit his art [296]. Does this impress you as a legitimate road to reaching truth about general definitions?
14. Socrates asserts that a charioteer is a "better judge" of lines in Homer about a horse-race. What does "better judge" mean? What is it that is being judged? [292 - 293]
15. What subjects does Ion claim to know better than the charioteer, physician, seer, etc.? [294]
16. What does the metaphor of the spinning-woman signify? [295]
17. Does Socrates genuinely believe that Ion is divinely inspired? [296]
B. Names for further Inquiry:
[285]:Festival of Asclepius
Panathenaea
Metrodorus of Lampsacus
Stesimbrotus of Thasos
Glaucon
[286]:Archilochus
[288]:Polygnotus the son of Aglaophon
Daedalus the son of Metion
Epeius the son of Panopeus
Theodorus the Samian
Olympus
Thamyras
Phemius the rhapsode of Ithaca
[289]Corybantian revellers
Tynnichus the Chalcidian
[291]Musaeus
[296]Apollodorus of Cyzicus
Phanosthenes of Andros
Heraclides of Clazomenae