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Murder and Midwifery: Metaphor in the Theaetetus
- Philosophy and Literature
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 42, Number 1, April 2018
- pp. 97-111
- 10.1353/phl.2018.0005
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
The Theaetetus's midwifery metaphor is well-known; less discussed is the brief passage accusing Socrates of behaving like Antaeus. Are philosophers midwives or monsters? Socrates accepts both characterizations. This passage and Socrates's acceptance of the metaphor creates a tension in the text, birthing a puzzle about how readers ought to understand the figure of the philosopher. Because metaphors play a pivotal role in the dialogue's ethical project, the puzzle presents not simply a textual tension but a question of how and why to be a philosopher.