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Socratic Politics
Socrates describes himself as having led “a private, not a public, life” and explains that “if I had long ago attempted to take part in politics, I should have died long ago.” But he also claims to be "one of a few Athenians...to take up the true political craft and practice the true politics.” How could Socrates be both political and apolitical at the same time? The answer is that Socrates' life was devoted to the pursuit of disagreement about how we should live together, which is the core activity of politics, but Socrates insisted on pursuing those disagreements in a "depoliticized" manner, which is to say, without symbolic mediation. Conventional politics resolves disagreements using tools--persuasion, debate, majoritarianism, war--that aim to bring about an event that stands for one of the two sides being right. Socratic politics aims not at symbolic but at actual victory, for whichever of the two sides is right. This makes it an apolitical kind of politics.
About the Speaker
Agnes Callard is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, specializing in ancient philosophy and ethics. She wrote Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming and the lead essay in On Anger. She has a podcast with economist Robin Hanson called Minds Almost Meeting.
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The Mala and Solomon Kamm Lecture in Ethics is supported by Frances M. Kamm, the Henry Rutgers University Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, and important long-term member of the Center for Ethics Community. Professor Kamm named the series in honor of her parents, Mala and Solomon Kamm, who survived internment at Auschwitz in World War II. The Kamms were dedicated to education, justice, and ethics throughout their lives, and we are pleased to honor their memory with this series. The Mala and Solomon Kamm Lecture in Ethics will be given by a leading philosopher to maintain the Center’s commitment to our disciplinary roots.