A brief teaching statement to accompany one of the hundreds of application letters I optimistically sent off between 1994-6.

January 26, 1994

The Image of the Humanist in The Apology

Offering The Apology in a general education course, I would initially emphasize two ideas in particular: (1) the ways in which important historical and social changes within Athenian society contextualize Socrates' self-defense, and (2) the work's implicit argument for tested knowledge as the basis of the worthwhile life--the central tenet of humanist philosophy.  This latter idea could then serve as a useful starting point for dis­cussing the current push for multiculturalism in place of the traditional Western Humani­ties curriculum, showing how in fact Plato's work not only anticipates, but accounts for and even subsumes the current controversy over traditional humanist education.

Knowledge of the controversial role that philosophy played in Athenian society during Socrates' lifetime is essential to an understanding of The Apology.  Meletus' charges that Socrates corrupted the youth of Athens by turning the "worse argument into the stronger" (19b) and by discrediting the city's gods are the same charges that were be­ing levelled at the Sophists, the teachers-for-hire that Socrates is careful to distinguish himself from (19d-e).  To lend gravity to these charges--as well as to Socrates' unwilling­ness to ask for a compromise sentence in response to them--the traditional authority of the polis in the education of Athenian youth had been disintegrating.  As Victor Ehrenberg has noted, the popularity and influence of the sophists signalled a widening gap between older and younger generations:

      The older generation had suffered severe losses through war and pestilence, and the ruling class was giving way to the influx of men of comparatively little education and still less tradition and experience.  The ways of life and the beliefs of the older people had to a large extent been wrecked by developments which put new demands on, and opened new possibilities for, each single citizen.  The young could look to a new future.  The new [Sophists'] education gave them the chance of emancipation from a world which was left behind by the stormy and revolutionary times. ^[1]

In this unsettled sociopolitical climate, charges of atheism and corruption assume extra importance--the importance of a larger conflict between the forces of traditional wisdom and those of youthful iconoclasm.  By refusing to ask for a mitigated sentence, such as ex­ile, Socrates makes both a literal and a symbolic statement for this possibility of a new life, a life emphasizing the individual soul's self-improvement, a life spent examining ethical questions rather than simply accepting their traditional answers.

Socrates' ideal life--a life of skepticism, curiosity, and, above all, honesty--repre­sents the ideal of Western humanistic teaching.  By refusing to accept any ethical concept as a given, by rejecting definitions that would not stand up to intense and varied scrutiny, and by seeking arete--not so much 'virtue,' Ehrenberg notes, as actually 'perfection' ^[2] --in the interplay of his own knowledge with any and all willing interlocutors, Socrates exem­plifies the humanist--at once generous teacher and hungry pupil.

While this reading of Socrates is conventional enough, the current controversy over the West European canon would make its presentation vital in a general education course.  The calls for diversification, if not destruction, of the canon are in fact compre­hended completely by Socrates' philosophy of skepticism and honesty.  Socrates, one might say, was undermining Athens' 'ethical canon' with his dialogic method, emphasizing the need to ground knowledge in the diversity of experience.  Thus, at the root of the currently popular call for multiculturalism in place of 'Western cultural hegemony,' we find the figurehead of Western humanism himself, arguing not only for the benefits of intellec­tual iconoclasm, but in fact its absolute necessity.  In fact, few ideas could be more 'Western' than the current movement for cultural diversity in education.

What makes The Apology so useful to a discussion of multiculturalism--as much a burden as a boon to educators in its current forms--is the depth Socrates' exemplary hon­esty lends to the ideal of skepticism.  In the representations we have of him, Socrates does not argue for the sake of arguing, but from a sincere and--from almost any perspective--admirable zeal for self-improvement.  In contrast, in our rancorous controversy over mul­ticulturalism and the larger category of political correctness, we are faced with the un­lovely spectacle of each faction rushing self-righteously to establish its martyrdom in the face of the other's 'oppression.'  The austerity of Socrates--whom The Apology invests with the martyr's status precisely because of his unwillingness to see himself as such--would certainly stand out in high relief against the reactionary spleen of our naysayers, providing a much-wanted example of intellectual integrity.