What if a man pretending to be drunk could teach you how to read Plato?
Many people often misunderstand the irony of Socrates in Plato’s dialogues. They see it as a mockery, something cutting, but in reality it is a pedagogical tool to open your soul to reality and beautify it.
A thousand years ago, the scholar Al-Farabi wrote a parable to help people understand how Plato writes his dialogues.
He tells of a man pretending to be drunk.
Let’s explore this perplexing image and see how it helps us read Plato well.
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How a Drunk Man Teaches You to Read Plato
Plato is philosophy—but Plato never speaks to you directly. He speaks through the drama and the characters of his dialogues. But even then, his stories and characters are not straightforward, especially Socrates. In fact, Socrates claims that he knows nothing and often presents himself as the student before others who claim to have knowledge. Plato’s Socrates is a character of irony.
But what exactly is Socratic irony?
Well, in the 900s AD, the Muslim scholar Al-Farabi wrote a parable to show you how Socratic irony functions in the writings of Plato. He writes:
It is related, for example, that a certain abstemious ascetic was known for his probity, propriety, asceticism and worship, and having become famous for this, he feared the tyrannical sovereign and decided to run away from his city.
The sovereign’s command went out to search for and arrest him wherever he was found. He could not leave from any of the city’s gates and was apprehensive lest he fall into the hands of the sovereign’s men.
So he went and found a dress worn by vagabonds, put it on, carried a cymbal in his hand and, pretending to be drunk, came early at night out to the gate of the city singing to the accompaniment of that cymbal of his. The gatekeeper said to him, “Who are you?” “I am so and so, the ascetic!” he said jokingly. The gatekeeper supposed he was poking fun at him and did not interfere with him.
So he saved himself without having lied in what he said.
Now, there is much that could be said about this little analogy, but Al-Farabi himself comments on the purpose of the tale. He writes:
The wise Plato did not feel free to reveal and uncover every kind of knowledge for all people. Therefore he followed the practice of using symbols, riddles, obscurity, and difficulty, so that knowledge would not fall into the hands of those who do not deserve it and be deformed, or fall into the hands of someone who does not know its worth or who uses it improperly. In this he was right.
As a preliminary observation, the narrative of the pious ascetic shows us that Plato teaches us the truth in disguise. He has a hidden or esoteric teaching buried within his dialogues that only careful observation and patience can unearth. You must understand that Plato teaches through the drama of his dialogues. The drama is part of the pedagogy. Whether it is the descending in the opening of the Republic, the drinking of wine in the Symposium, or the complete lack of setting in Hipparchus, all narrative details are instructive—they are there to teach you about a philosophical truth.
And this includes how Plato presents Socrates. He often presents him ironically, as Socrates often tells his interlocutors that he “knows nothing” and that he is in need of being instructed.
You, as the reader, are like the guard at the gate. Socrates, through the writings of Plato, is like the apparently drunk vagabond. The guard failed to give proper consideration of the truth told to him; thus, he misunderstood the reality before him.
But you can work to give Plato proper consideration—and in doing so come to a better understanding of reality and how to live a beautiful life.
Let’s look at a few key characteristics of Socratic irony that, if you observe in the dialogues, will help you uncover the hidden teachings of Plato.