"I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean"
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Socrates flatters poets with one hand and quietly disarms them with the other. Calling poetry "sublime" sounds like praise, but the real move is epistemic: he denies poets the status of knowers. In Socrates' Athens, where poets were cultural authorities and rhapsodes could shape civic morals, this is a power shift. If poetry comes from "instinct or inspiration" rather than wisdom, then poets may produce truth-adjacent beauty while remaining incapable of giving an account of it. And for Socrates, the ability to give an account (logos) is the whole game.
The comparison to "seers and prophets" is doing sharp work. Prophets speak with the authority of a voice not their own; the message can be elevated while the messenger is, in a sense, bypassed. Socrates is reframing poetic genius as a kind of divine ventriloquism, which sounds mystical but functions as an argument for philosophical superiority. The poet becomes a conduit, not an expert. That undercuts the social habit of treating artists as moral legislators.
Subtext: Socrates is also protecting his method. If poets could explain their own work, they'd have the kind of stable knowledge Socratic questioning seeks. Instead, he reports that when pressed, poets often can't clarify their meanings, and less talented listeners start claiming insight by interpretation alone. So "inspiration" becomes both an explanation and a warning: aesthetic power is real, but it's not evidence of understanding.
Contextually, this aligns with the argument in Plato's Apology and Ion: poetry may be compelling precisely because it bypasses reason, which is why it can move crowds and mislead them just as easily.
The comparison to "seers and prophets" is doing sharp work. Prophets speak with the authority of a voice not their own; the message can be elevated while the messenger is, in a sense, bypassed. Socrates is reframing poetic genius as a kind of divine ventriloquism, which sounds mystical but functions as an argument for philosophical superiority. The poet becomes a conduit, not an expert. That undercuts the social habit of treating artists as moral legislators.
Subtext: Socrates is also protecting his method. If poets could explain their own work, they'd have the kind of stable knowledge Socratic questioning seeks. Instead, he reports that when pressed, poets often can't clarify their meanings, and less talented listeners start claiming insight by interpretation alone. So "inspiration" becomes both an explanation and a warning: aesthetic power is real, but it's not evidence of understanding.
Contextually, this aligns with the argument in Plato's Apology and Ion: poetry may be compelling precisely because it bypasses reason, which is why it can move crowds and mislead them just as easily.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Plato, Ion (dialogue), c. 4th century BCE, sec. 533b–534a — English translation by Benjamin Jowett. |
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