Purification through emotions: The role of shame in Plato’s Sophist 230b4–e5

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of Plato’s Sophist (230b4–e5) that underlines the bond between the logical and the emotional components of the Socratic elenchus, with the aim of depicting the social valence of this philosophical practice. The use of emotions characterizing the ‘elenctic’ method described by Plato is crucial in influencing the audience and is introduced at the very moment in which the interlocutor attempts to protect his social image by concealing his shame at being refuted. The audience, thanks to Plato’s literary strategy, realizes the failures of the interlocutor even as he refuses to accept them. As a result, his social image becomes tarnished. Purification through shame reveals how the medium is strictly related to the endorsement of specific ethical and political goals, making the Platonic dialogs the tools for the constitution of a new paideia.

Keywords:

• Plato
• dialog
• shame
• elenchus
• katharsis

Notes

1. I am in agreement with Bowery for whom blushing is a turning point, where real possibilities to have a dialogic evolution arise. Cf. Bowery (2007, pp. 82–110).

2. Several studies have been conducted, especially in the analytical domain, in relation to argumentation in Plato and the elenctic technique; it has been noted that the logic present in Plato’s dialogs is not perfect and, from a formal point of view, the elenchus itself presents some shortcomings. Cf. Vlastos (1983, pp. 27–58).

3. Benade (2015) has depicted in these terms the role that shame may assume within contemporary educational practice. In fact, the moral effect of shame can be regarded to reflect a form of social responsibility and restorative justice.