Erôs and education : Socratic seduction in three platonic dialogues

Plato’s Socrates is famous for claiming that “I know one thing: That I know nothing”. There is one subject that Socrates repeatedly claims to have expertise in, however: ta erôtika. Socrates also refers to this expertise as his erôtikê technê, which may be translated as “erotic expertise”. This study investigates Socrates’ erotic expertise: what kind of expertise is it, what is it constituted by, where is it put into practice, and how is it practiced? I argue that the purposes this expertise serve are, to a significant extent, educational in nature. Three dialogues where Socrates practices his erotic expertise are examined in the dissertation: the Lysis, the Charmides, and the Alcibiades I. I argue that Socrates’ expertise on erôs plays an essential role in his attempts to pique the interest of the three eponymous youths in these dialogues, and in engaging them in the processes of self-cultivation, learning, and the very practice of philosophy.

This is a Doctoral Thesis in Practical philosophy at Stockholm University, Sweden 2016.