BENJAMIN J. GRAZZINIbe summed up as follows: Socrates does injustice by challenging the
authority of the traditions of the Athenians. That is, in addition to the
issue of how Socrates appears to his fellow citizens (and so how he can
account for himself), there is the further issue of the authority of tradi-
tion. That authority seems to be something that Socrates must challenge
insofar as he takes his task to be that of a gadfl y, yet something that he
can only challenge at the risk of convicting himself of being a danger to
the city.
Psychic maieutics appears familiar as an account of Socrates’ prac-
tice of philosophy, yet the fact that the language of midwifery is un-
precedented in the Platonic corpus, and even more so the details of
Socrates’ account, call into question that familiarity. Insofar as the im-
age of the psychic maieute appears somewhat out of place with respect to
the conversation in which it appears, two further questions arise: Why
should Socrates offer an account of himself at all, and why this account
in particular? With respect to the latter, the language of birth and par-
entage can be seen to raise a set of concerns about the authority of
tradition, and this, too, follows from the proximity of the conversation
recounted in the Theaetetus to Socrates’ trial and death. With respect
to the former, a tension emerges between the extent to which Socrates’
personal concerns can be taken to motivate his actions in this conversa-
tion, and the extent to which the account of psychic maieutics appears
to rule out allowing those concerns to come into play at all.
***
In order to develop this line of thought, I turn to a more detailed consid-
eration of what Socrates actually says about his art of psychic maieutics.
Here again I begin with the apparent familiarity of Socrates’ account.
In part, that familiarity is due to the ease with which we can follow the
translation of the discourse of midwifery into the discourse of psychic
maieutics. Everything that belongs to the art of midwifery, Socrates says,
also belongs to his art of psychic maieutics (150b6– 7). Midwives practice
their art on women; Socrates practices his on men. Midwives are con-
cerned with the body; Socrates, with the soul. Midwives help to bring
forth and care for children; Socrates, the thoughts and opinions of oth-
ers. Midwives are most skilled at knowing who would produce the best
children together; Socrates knows which youths to send to which teach-
ers. Midwives practice their art in the service of Artemis; Socrates prac-
tices his art in the service of the god. Socrates does not name the god
responsible for psychic maieutics, but in light of the other connections
between the Theaetetus and the Apology, where Socrates claims to act in
the service of Apollo, it is plausible to think that here, too, Socrates is