ANNE-MARIE BOWERYnot simply from his commit ment to fi nding truth through philosophical
refutation. Consider the following passages in this regard:
Critias heard me say this, and saw that I was in a diffi culty, and as one
person when another yawns in his presence catches the infection of
yawning from him, so did he seem to be driven into a diffi culty by my
diffi culty. But as he had a reputation to maintain, he was ashamed
to admit before the company that he could not answer my challenge
or determine the question at issue, and he made an unintelligible
attempt to hide his perplexity. In order that the argument might pro-
ceed, I said to him, “Well then Critias.” (Charmides 169c)Another example occurs in the Lysis. “I then, wishing to relieve
Menexenus, and charmed with the other’s intelligence, turned to Lysis
and directing my discourse to him, observed, ‘Yes Lysis you are quite
right’ ” (213e). The Protagoras also provides insight into how Socrates
uses these emotional responses to further the philosophical discussion.
Socrates tells his friend, “I could see that Protagoras was really worked
up and struggling by now and that he was dead set against answering
any more. Accordingly, I carefully modifi ed the tone of my questions”
(333e).^46 By examining these narrative passages more carefully, we see
that Socrates uses these emotional observations to direct his philosophi-
cal inquiries. His compassion for others shapes his philosophical con-
versations with them.
How Socrates Sees Himself
By attending to the role that Socrates plays as a narrator in the dialogues,
the careful reader sees how Socrates the narrator provides insight into
the thoughts, emotions, and experiences of Socrates the character. Ex-
amination of these passages will reveal that Plato uses this narrative
presentation to help the audience understand the process of acquir-
ing self-knowledge. This narrative portrait of Socratic self-knowledge
should stimulate our own process of philosophical self-discovery by pro-
viding a model of a philosopher engaged in the ongoing process of self-
discovery through thoughtful refl ection on experience.^47 In this section,
I examine the passages where Socrates describes his thoughts, his philo-
sophical process or procedure, his emotional states, and the passages
where he reports on the attitude he takes toward his emotions. It will
become clear that Socratic self-knowledge is not simply a rational pro-