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Socrates in Love: Why Aspasia's Ideas Are at the Roots of Western Philosophy
2024-12-04 17:28:40 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
Where did Socrates, the foundational figure of Western philosophy, get the inspiration for his original ideas about truth, love, justice, courage and knowledge? New research I've conducted reveals that as a young man in 5th century BC Athens, he met an incredibly intelligent woman, Aspasia of Miletus.
I argue that her ideas on love and transcendence inspired Socrates to formulate key aspects of his thought (as evidenced by Plato). If the evidence for this thesis is accepted, the history of philosophy will have taken an important turn: a woman, who has been unjustly erased from history, should be credited with laying the foundations of a 2500-year-old philosophical tradition.
A neoclassical painting by the 19th-century artist Nicolas Monsio shows Socrates seated at a table opposite a well-dressed Aspasia. The handsome young soldier, Alcibiades, watches them both standing. The image touches on the standard perspective of Socrates: as poor and ugly. The son of a quarry worker, he was known since the Middle Ages to walk barefoot and in old clothes.
But Plato says that Socrates was inspired by the eloquence of Aspasia, who for more than a decade was the partner of Athens' leading statesman, Pericles. Apparently a highly educated "courtesan", Aspasia is shown in the painting counting on her fingers the arguments of a speech she is giving to Socrates.
Her gaze turns to the young aristocrat Alcibiades, who was Pericles' servant and perhaps Aspasia's great-nephew. It is claimed that Socrates was charmed by Alcibiades' looks and charisma, and (as recounted in the dialogues of Plato's 'Symposium'), he saved his life at the Battle of Potidaea in 432 BC.
His main biographers, Plato and Xenophon, knew him only as an old man. But Socrates was once young, and a direct contemporary of Aspasia. And from the surviving images of the philosopher, the occasional information provided by his biographers, and in ancient texts that have generally been neglected or misinterpreted, a different picture of Socrates emerges: that of an educated youth, who grew up without was less brave than a soldier like Alcibiades, and a passionate lover of both sexes, but no less than a great thinker and debater.
Socrates was famous for saying: "The only thing I know is that I know nothing!". But Plato in the 'Symposium', says that he learned "the truth about love" from a clever woman. This woman is called "Diotima" there, and in the 'Symposium', Socrates explains her doctrine.
Researchers have rejected the possibility that Diotima is a fictional character. She is depicted in the dialogue as a priestess, or diviner of fate at the hands of men (mantis), and she is thought to be an allegorical figure, a visionary who might have prompted a thinker like Socrates to explore the mysteries of love.
But Plato gives us some strange clues about the identity of Diotima, which until now have not been clarified. In my book, I present evidence that "Diotima" is actually a thin mask for Aspasia. She came from an old Athenian family, related to that of Pericles, which had settled in the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia (Asia Minor), several decades earlier.
When she immigrated to Athens around 450 BC, she was about 20 years old. At that time, Socrates was also in his 20s. A few years later, Aspasia became engaged to Pericles, who was then one of the leading politicians of Athens, and twice her senior.
But a student of Aristotle, Clearcus, writes that "before Aspasia became Pericles' partner, she was associated with Socrates." This is also consistent with other evidence that Socrates was part of Pericles' circle when he was young. Undoubtedly, in that environment he would also get to know Aspasia.
But having been part of this privileged elite in his youth, what prompted Socrates to return to the life of the philosopher, eschew material success, and reorient philosophical thinking for generations? No one has ever attempted to trace Socrates' early life, as biographical sources are scattered and fragmentary, and seem to have little interest in his thought.
But since Socrates was known in Athens as a philosopher as early as his 30s, the earliest period of his life, is where we must look for evidence of his change of direction, to become the thinker we all know today. I argue that Socrates' acquaintance with Aspasia provides the missing link.
Aspasia was the smartest, most influential woman of the time. Pericles' partner for about 15 years, she was criticized and ridiculed by comic dramatists – the tabloid journalists of the time – for her great influence on Pericles. As part of Pericles' circle of thinkers, artists and politicians, she is described by Plato, Xenophon and others as an admired teacher of eloquence as well as a counselor on marriages.
In Plato's dialogue Menexenes, she is described as teaching Socrates how to give a speech at a funeral, just as she claimed to have once taught Pericles himself. So she was known for her speaking skills, and especially on love.
So is it likely that Socrates and Aspasia fell in love with each other when they met and talked for the first time in their twenties? That Plato gives Aspasia considerable intellectual authority over Socrates has alarmed generations of scholars, who have largely dismissed the scene in Menexes as a parody of oratorical techniques. Meanwhile, they were happy to consider Aspasia as a "prostitute", illustrating this with quotes from comic poets of the time.
At best, scholars have elevated Aspasia to the status of a hetaera, a courtesan. But it has never had this name from ancient sources. The time has come to restore the beautiful, dynamic and intelligent Aspasia to her true status as one of the founders of Western philosophy.
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