Hippias Minor
Encyclopedia
Hippias Minor is thought to be one of Plato
's early works. Socrates matches wits with an arrogant polymath
who is also a smug literary critic. Hippias believes that Homer can be taken at face value, and that Achilles may be believed when he says he hates liars. Socrates argues that Achilles is a cunning liar who throws people off the scent of his own deceptions, and that cunning liars are actually the "best" liars. Socrates proposes, possibly for the sheer dialectical fun of it, that it is better to do evil voluntarily than involuntarily. His case rests largely on the analogy with athletic skills, such as running and wrestling. He says that runner or wrestler who deliberately sandbags is better than the one who plods along because he can do no better.
(in Metaphysics
, V, 120), Cicero
(in De Oratore
, III, 32) and Alexander of Aphrodisias
all reference it as genuine.
The debate is rooted in a literary question about who Homer intended to portray as the better man, Achilles or Odysseus. Socrates says he has heard Eudicus' father, Apemantus, declare that there is a parallel analogy between the artistic quality of the Iliad and the moral quality of its main character, Achilles, and the quality of the Odyssey and the quality of its main character, Odysseus. The men do not pursue this thesis, that the moral status of the characters in a work of literature has some bearing on its artistry. Socrates does resurrect the idea in the Republic
, however, when he argues that Homer's classics would be better books if Achilles and the other warriors were presented as always righteous. Socrates says that they ought to be rewritten to this effect.
Socrates asks Hippias if Homer has not portrayed Achilles as a wily man. Hippias counters that Achilles is the most straightforward of men, simple and true, and cites a passage where Achilles declares his hatred for men who think one thing and say another, or who do not do what they say they will do. Socrates does not object to Hippias' literalism, and seems to abandon the literary question, saying that Homer is dead, and the thing cannot be resolved (365d). He tells Hippias that because he agrees with Homer that a simple and true man is better than a wily and cunning one, he will let him speak for Homer.
objects, saying that the laws punish people who harm others deliberately with purposeful lies, and are more apt to excuse those who do harm by making mistakes. Socrates insists that those who injure people, tell deliberate lies, and err voluntarily are better than people who simply make mistakes (372d). Hippias suspects at this point that Socrates is being dishonest in the debate. Socrates counters that if he is troublesome, it is unintentional, that if he were being difficult deliberately, then he would be wily, which he is not. This is a kind of liar's paradox.
The moral argument of the dialog, a kind of red herring, can be summed up simply:
Socrates' argument entails a gross confusion between the notions of being able to do evil, and wanting to do it. Socrates' apparent immorality has caused some scholars (notably Victor Cousin
and Eduard Zeller
) to doubt its authenticity. They argue that Socrates is uncharacteristically lacking in righteousness, and that this puts the dialog at odds with the main body of Socratic dialogs.
The fact is, however, that the opinions of Socrates in any given dialog not only often contradict conventional morality, they also contradict his own previous opinions. For example, in the Apology
, Socrates praises "the son of Thetis" (Achilles) for making light of death because he was so obsessed with getting revenge on Hector for killing Patroclus. In this scene, Achilles does not go in to fight, but agrees to his mother's command that he wait until she gets special battle gear made for him. Socrates invocation of Achilles as a model for his own fearlessness is misplaced because Achilles is a coward in the scene. In the Republic
Socrates has a different opinion of Achilles. He calls him emotionally overwrought, and greedy (for taking bribes - which, according to Homer, he did not do). Socrates famously argues that the Iliad needs to be rewritten.
What must not be overlooked, however, is that Plato is the mastermind, and must be given full credit for arranging the match. Socrates wins the debate with Hippias, and then throws the trophy back at the sophist, who never knew what hit him. Readers for centuries have been hard pressed to judge the match.
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's early works. Socrates matches wits with an arrogant polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
who is also a smug literary critic. Hippias believes that Homer can be taken at face value, and that Achilles may be believed when he says he hates liars. Socrates argues that Achilles is a cunning liar who throws people off the scent of his own deceptions, and that cunning liars are actually the "best" liars. Socrates proposes, possibly for the sheer dialectical fun of it, that it is better to do evil voluntarily than involuntarily. His case rests largely on the analogy with athletic skills, such as running and wrestling. He says that runner or wrestler who deliberately sandbags is better than the one who plods along because he can do no better.
Authenticity
Despite Hippias Minors relative unpopularity, its authenticity is the subject of virtually no doubt: AristotleAristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
(in Metaphysics
Metaphysics (Aristotle)
Metaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. The principal subject is "being qua being", or being understood as being. It examines what can be asserted about anything that exists just because of its existence and...
, V, 120), Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
(in De Oratore
De Oratore
De Oratore is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BCE. It is set in 91 BCE, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the social war and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, during which Marcus Antonius Orator, the other great orator of this dialogue, dies...
, III, 32) and Alexander of Aphrodisias
Alexander of Aphrodisias
Alexander of Aphrodisias was a Peripatetic philosopher and the most celebrated of the Ancient Greek commentators on the writings of Aristotle. He was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria, and lived and taught in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century, where he held a position as head of the...
all reference it as genuine.
Characters
- SocratesSocratesSocrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
, who defends a thesis he explicitly rejects in CritoCritoCrito is a short but important dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It is a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito regarding justice , injustice , and the appropriate response to injustice. Socrates thinks that injustice may not be answered with injustice, and...
. Socrates says in the Crito that a man should never intentionally commit injustice. In this dialogue, he says that a man who does wrong intentionally is better than the man who does it unwittingly. - HippiasHippiasHippias of Elis was a Greek Sophist, and a contemporary of Socrates. With an assurance characteristic of the later sophists, he claimed to be regarded as an authority on all subjects, and lectured on poetry, grammar, history, politics, mathematics, and much else...
of Elis: a famous sophist, originally from ElisElisElis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...
. Known throughout ancient GreeceAncient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, he was reputed to have mastered mathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, astronomyAstronomyAstronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and rhetoricRhetoricRhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
; he boasted that he could speak on any subject at OlympiaOlympia, GreeceOlympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...
without preparation. Plato presents him as setting himself up as an expert on Homeric criticism, and over-reaching his expertise. Hippias is exactly the sort of man Socrates complains about in the ApologyApology (Plato)The Apology of Socrates is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he unsuccessfully defended himself in 399 BC against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel"...
, a man who develops expertise in one or more areas, and then imagines he knows everything. - Eudicus: Hippias' host in AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. He admires Hippias and his role in the dialogue is as a facilitator.
A conversation about lies
In Hippias Minor, Socrates argues with Hippias about which kind of liar is the best, the man who deliberately contrives a lie, or the man who lies unwittingly, from not paying attention to what he is saying, or changing his mind. Socrates argues that the voluntary lie is better than the involuntary lie.The debate is rooted in a literary question about who Homer intended to portray as the better man, Achilles or Odysseus. Socrates says he has heard Eudicus' father, Apemantus, declare that there is a parallel analogy between the artistic quality of the Iliad and the moral quality of its main character, Achilles, and the quality of the Odyssey and the quality of its main character, Odysseus. The men do not pursue this thesis, that the moral status of the characters in a work of literature has some bearing on its artistry. Socrates does resurrect the idea in the Republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
, however, when he argues that Homer's classics would be better books if Achilles and the other warriors were presented as always righteous. Socrates says that they ought to be rewritten to this effect.
Introductory scene
The sophist Hippias is visiting Athens from his home city of Elis on the occasion of the Olympic festival. An artisan, poet, rhetor, astronomer and arithmetician, Hippias has also appointed himself an expert on Homer. He has been favoring the crowds with displays of his literary opinions. Hippias most recent display of oratory concerned who is the better man, Achilles or Odysseus. Socrates says that he could not follow his argument, but did not want to interrupt. Now that the three men are separated from the crowd, Socrates, encouraged by Eudicus, quizzes Hippias on the particulars of his opinion.Socrates asks Hippias if Homer has not portrayed Achilles as a wily man. Hippias counters that Achilles is the most straightforward of men, simple and true, and cites a passage where Achilles declares his hatred for men who think one thing and say another, or who do not do what they say they will do. Socrates does not object to Hippias' literalism, and seems to abandon the literary question, saying that Homer is dead, and the thing cannot be resolved (365d). He tells Hippias that because he agrees with Homer that a simple and true man is better than a wily and cunning one, he will let him speak for Homer.
Wise liars
Socrates gets Hippias to agree that the more a man knows about a subject, the better position he will be in to lie about it. He argues that the man who knows the subjects about which he tells lies, whether arithmetic, geometry, or astronomy, is twice as powerful as the man who does not know his subjects. Socrates never indicates what a man might stand to gain from lying about such matters, but brings the conversation back around to Achilles, and what kind of man Homer intended to portray.Achilles is an expert liar
Socrates argues that Achilles is such a good liar in the Iliad that he fools even Odysseus, who never notices his duplicity (371a). Citing the scene where Achilles tells Odysseus that he will not rejoin the war but will sail away with the early dawn, and Ajax a different story, Socrates says this is a cunning man. (The Iliad, IX, 357-363) If Achilles' is so shifty that even Odysseus, whose middle name is cunning, cannot spot it, Achilles must be the better liar. Achilles, of course, never carried out his threat to leave, but remained at his camp. Hippias, quite foolishly, insists that Achilles told two different stories "in innocence."Hippias objects
HippiasHippias
Hippias of Elis was a Greek Sophist, and a contemporary of Socrates. With an assurance characteristic of the later sophists, he claimed to be regarded as an authority on all subjects, and lectured on poetry, grammar, history, politics, mathematics, and much else...
objects, saying that the laws punish people who harm others deliberately with purposeful lies, and are more apt to excuse those who do harm by making mistakes. Socrates insists that those who injure people, tell deliberate lies, and err voluntarily are better than people who simply make mistakes (372d). Hippias suspects at this point that Socrates is being dishonest in the debate. Socrates counters that if he is troublesome, it is unintentional, that if he were being difficult deliberately, then he would be wily, which he is not. This is a kind of liar's paradox.
Debate and athletics compared
Socrates invokes a comparison between athletic competitions and debate. He argues that a runner or wrestler who throws the contest by doing worse than he is capable of doing is a more skillful combatant than the one who does his best and loses. Socrates multiplies the analogy, adding that whether it is a singer off key, a gymnast who appears ungraceful, or a man who pretends to be lame, it is always better to have the power to do it right and pretend to do it wrong than to be helpless to do it right.Justice is power and knowledge
Socrates convinces Hippias that Justice is a matter of both power and knowledge, and that the powerful (i.e. truly skilled) man is "better" than the clumsy one who makes mistakes from lack of knowledge and skill. The dialogue ends with Hippias' incredulity and helplessness at Socrates' verbal dexterity. Socrates tells Hippias that he does not agree with himself, and is perplexed about his own conclusion.Criticism of the Dialogue
This dialogue is much dismissed because it seems to recommend clever evil over witless evil. This is not the real point however. Socrates is the impressario who sings off key, the boxer who throws the match not for money, but because he can. The dialogue does not establish Socrates' absurd thesis, that the deliberate liar is better than the witless one, but it does prove that Plato is as clever as Homer. Socrates, who pretends to be a lover of good reasoning, is widely thought to be what he says he is, a rational man. Socrates is the literary equivalent of Achilles, whose speech against dissembling seems to fool everyone. Socrates is no more "rational" than Achilles is "honest and simple".The moral argument of the dialog, a kind of red herring, can be summed up simply:
- One who is able to lie about any subject must know the subject in depth, thus is able to tell the truth.
- One who lies knowingly is superior to one who lies unwittingly.
Socrates' argument entails a gross confusion between the notions of being able to do evil, and wanting to do it. Socrates' apparent immorality has caused some scholars (notably Victor Cousin
Victor Cousin
Victor Cousin was a French philosopher. He was a proponent of Scottish Common Sense Realism and had an important influence on French educational policy.-Early life:...
and Eduard Zeller
Eduard Zeller
Eduard Gottlob Zeller , was a German philosopher and theologian of the Tübingen School of theology.- Life :Eduard Zeller was born at Kleinbottwar in Württemberg, and educated at the University of Tübingen and under the influence of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel...
) to doubt its authenticity. They argue that Socrates is uncharacteristically lacking in righteousness, and that this puts the dialog at odds with the main body of Socratic dialogs.
The fact is, however, that the opinions of Socrates in any given dialog not only often contradict conventional morality, they also contradict his own previous opinions. For example, in the Apology
Apology (Plato)
The Apology of Socrates is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he unsuccessfully defended himself in 399 BC against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel"...
, Socrates praises "the son of Thetis" (Achilles) for making light of death because he was so obsessed with getting revenge on Hector for killing Patroclus. In this scene, Achilles does not go in to fight, but agrees to his mother's command that he wait until she gets special battle gear made for him. Socrates invocation of Achilles as a model for his own fearlessness is misplaced because Achilles is a coward in the scene. In the Republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
Socrates has a different opinion of Achilles. He calls him emotionally overwrought, and greedy (for taking bribes - which, according to Homer, he did not do). Socrates famously argues that the Iliad needs to be rewritten.
What must not be overlooked, however, is that Plato is the mastermind, and must be given full credit for arranging the match. Socrates wins the debate with Hippias, and then throws the trophy back at the sophist, who never knew what hit him. Readers for centuries have been hard pressed to judge the match.
Texts
- Translation by John Cooper in Complete Works, Hackett, 1997
- Hippias mineur translation and comments by Jean-François Pradeau, GF-Flammarion, 2005, ISBN 2-08-070870-8
- Premiers dialogues, GF-Flammarion n°129, 1993, ISBN 2-08-070129-0
- Platon : Œuvres complètes, Tome 1, Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1940, ISBN 2-07-010450-8
Commentaries
- "Alain"Émile ChartierÉmile-Auguste Chartier, commonly known as Alain was a French philosopher, journalist, and pacifist.Alain entered lycée d'Alençon in 1881 and studied there for five years...
, Platon, Champs-Flammarion, 2005, ISBN 2-08-080134-1 - François Châtelet, Platon, Folio, Gallimard, 1989, ISBN 2-07-032506-7
- Jean-François Pradeau, Les mythes de Platon, GF-Flammarion, 2004, ISBN 2-08-071185-7
- Jean-François Pradeau, Le vocabulaire de Platon, Ellipses Marketing, 1998, ISBN 2-7298-5809-1
- Kraut, Richard, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge University Press, 1992.
- Vlastos, GregoryGregory VlastosGregory Vlastos was a scholar of ancient philosophy, and author of several works on Plato and Socrates. He was also a Christian and has written on Christian faith as well.-Life and works:...
, Studies in Greek Philosophy, Princeton University Press, 1995.