OF PSYCHIC MAIEUTICS AND DIALOGICAL BONDAGE IN PLATO’S
THEAETETUSist and Statesman toward the Apology, and concerns the relationship be-
tween the image of Socrates, psychic maieute, and his trial. I will only be
able to gesture toward how the issues that arise in the Theaetetus inform
the latter. My aim here is to show how it makes sense, in this particular
conversation, for the image of Socrates as a midwife of the soul to be
at issue. To that end, I will follow as closely as possible the implications
of how psychic maieutics appears in the Theaetetus, the extent to which
Socrates’ account of psychic maieutics appears to be at odds with itself,
and how psychic maieutics relates to the conversation it makes possible.
Throughout, I will be primarily concerned with the tension between
the apparent familiarity of Socrates, psychic maieute, and the extent to
which that familiarity is called into question by the Theaetetus.^3
***
Perhaps the most striking thing about Socrates’ account of psychic ma-
ieutics is how familiar it appears. Socrates introduces psychic maieu-
tics in order to explain certain things that Theaetetus has heard about
Socrates, namely, that Socrates is “very strange” and makes people per-
plexed (149a8– 10). These facts are not disputed, only that those who
assert them know why Socrates is so strange. That is, Socrates does not
offer to correct a misunderstanding, but to explain the cause or rea-
son (aition; 149b2) for an apparently common understanding. Indeed,
Socrates later affi rms that those who say that he questions others but gives
no answers of his own because he has no wisdom speak truly (150c4– 7).
Throughout his conversation with Theaetetus and Theodorus, Socrates
denies that he has any wisdom of his own, that he is contributing any-
thing to the conversation other than helping to bring to light and test
Theaetetus’ offspring, and that he has any more than the little knowl-
edge needed to “take a speech” (161b4) from another.^4 This denial of
wisdom is perhaps the most recognizable aspect of Socrates’ character,
calling to mind the “human wisdom” Socrates admits in the Apology,
namely, that he does not think that he knows when he does not know.^5
Another familiar aspect of Socrates’ account of psychic maieutics
is that Socrates denies that his interlocutors learn anything from him.
Rather, “they have found many beautiful things within themselves, and
given birth to them” (150d6– 8). As in the Apology, on this basis Socrates
denies responsibility for the subsequent actions of his patients. Some
leave too soon, either because they think that they are the cause of their
success, or because they are persuaded by others (150e1– 4). And it is
not Socrates, but his daimon, that determines which of those who want
to return to Socrates are allowed to do so. The link between Socrates’