Information concerning paper (750 to 1250 words, i.e., roughly 3 to 5 pages) due Thursday, Dec. 5.
The basic topic is a comparison of Socrates and Strepsiades as objects of Aristophanes' criticism in the Clouds. According to Starr, p. 63, "One play, the Clouds, is a bitter attack on the philosopher Socrates, who is portrayed as a sophist leading the young to make fun of their elders." One could, however, argue that the play is better viewed as attacking foolish Athenians (represented by the fictional Strepsiades) who misunderstood Socrates.
Some guidelines (very general). These "guidelines" are deliberately not very precise. It is your job to write an interesting, well-argued paper, within the basic framework presented. Some points, though, which you may want to consider are listed below. (You need not consider all of these topics in your paper, and you may wish to develop other, relevant topics instead.)
Possible arguments or lines of argument for saying that Aristophanes is attacking Strepsiades, rather than Socrates:
- Strepsiades is not very sympathetically presented in the Clouds. Two out of many examples are the following: (1) His reaction to the Peloponnesian War is to lament the passing of the good old days when he could beat his slaves without fearing they would run away (lines 7-8). (2) He seems pretty incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions; he blames most of his troubles on his marriage, and feels that he would be much better off if he had never met his wife (lines 42-43).
- Socrates does not actually support the Inferior Logic (which persuades Phidippides to beat his father), but instead exits at line 886, leaving others to make up their own minds.
- The evidence from Plato, Apology, 18b-18c (see below) may be due more to Plato than to Socrates. (Reeve does not seem to say much about whether Plato, Apology actually represents Socrates' own words very accurately; however, Starr, p. 204 says that much of the Apology "probably comes from Plato's imagination".)
On the other hand, possible arguments or lines of argument for saying that Aristophanes is attacking Socrates are the following:
- Socrates in Plato, Apology, 18b-18c (Reeve, pp. 27-28) says that comic poets' attacks on him (Socrates) led to the Athenians' being prejudiced against him.
- Socrates' students refer to various sorts of deception as being practiced in the Pondertorium (e.g., Socrates is described as stealing someone's cloak at line 179).
- The Clouds concludes with the destruction of the Pondertorium, apparently with the approval of various divinities.
Papers should normally be computer-printed or typed. Neatly handwritten papers, though, will be accepted, if for some reason no other format is feasible.
Of course, it goes without saying that your paper should be your own work, not someone else's.