Neither the Wise nor the Ignorant
Read the full text in our reader
Diotima — ἔχει γὰρ ὧδε. θεῶν οὐδεὶς φιλοσοφεῖ οὐδʼ ἐπιθυμεῖ σοφὸς γενέσθαι— ἔστι γάρ— οὐδʼ εἴ τις ἄλλος σοφός, οὐ φιλοσοφεῖ. οὐδʼ αὖ οἱ ἀμαθεῖς φιλοσοφοῦσιν οὐδʼ ἐπιθυμοῦσι σοφοὶ γενέσθαι· αὐτὸ γὰρ τοῦτό ἐστι χαλεπὸν ἀμαθία, τὸ μὴ ὄντα καλὸν κἀγαθὸν μηδὲ φρόνιμον δοκεῖν αὑτῷ εἶναι ἱκανόν. οὔκουν ἐπιθυμεῖ ὁ μὴ οἰόμενος ἐνδεὴς εἶναι οὗ ἂν μὴ οἴηται ἐπιδεῖσθαι.
Socrates — τίνες οὖν, ἔφην ἐγώ, ὦ Διοτίμα, οἱ φιλοσοφοῦντες, εἰ μήτε οἱ σοφοὶ μήτε οἱ ἀμαθεῖς;
For it is thus. None of the gods philosophizes nor desires to become wise — for he is so already — nor, if anyone else is wise, does he philosophize. Nor again do the ignorant philosophize or desire to become wise; for this is the hard thing in ignorance, that one not being beautiful and good nor wise thinks himself sufficient. So he does not desire, who does not think himself in want of what he does not think he lacks. Who then, said I, Diotima, are those who philosophize, if neither the wise nor the ignorant?
Diotima draws the moral of the in-between. No god philosophizes or wants to become wise — a god is wise already. Nor do the ignorant philosophize, for the very trouble with ignorance is that the one who is not beautiful, good, or wise thinks himself quite sufficient, and so desires nothing he does not feel he lacks. Socrates asks: then who are the philosophers, if neither the wise nor the ignorant?
This is the deepest link in the whole speech between love and the examined life. Socratic wisdom — knowing that you do not know — is precisely what makes philosophy possible: it is the felt lack that turns into desire for wisdom. The complacent ignoramus feels no such lack and never moves; the god feels none and needs to move nowhere. Between them stands the philosopher, who is exactly Eros: the being who lacks and knows it, and therefore reaches. The Apology's famous humility and this account of love turn out to be one doctrine. Diotima's next line (204b) will name it outright — Eros is a philosopher, because wisdom is among the most beautiful things and love is love of the beautiful.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Plato, Symposium 204a in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
You are reading a page of the Plato, Symposium — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Plato, Symposium 204a — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/symposium/204a/