Teachers

Use in the book

At 109d Socrates asks who taught Alcibiades to distinguish the more just from the more unjust. His invitation to become that teacher's pupil as well gives the challenge a conversational edge: if such knowledge is available, it should withstand inquiry into its source. Alcibiades responds first with discovery and then with the many as teachers.

The many are not rejected in every capacity. They are good teachers of Greek because they know the ordinary identifications they convey and agree in word and action. Their disagreement about specialist judgments, and especially justice, prevents that success from being generalized. The crucial qualification is always teachers of what. Socrates' initial dismissiveness is refined by Alcibiades' valid counterexample.

At 118c–119a2 the relation is reversed as a test of the supposed knower. Someone who knows should be able to make another know. Pericles' prestige and famous associates do not supply the required evidence if no pupil can be identified. Alcibiades offers failures in potential pupils as explanations, then confesses his own inattention. Socrates broadens the search to avoid resting the entire test on the family alone.

The dialogue's own pedagogical stance is more cautious than a simple teacher transmitting a finished doctrine. Socrates asks for answers, includes himself in the need for care, and qualifies the soul argument's precision. Teaching is sought and tested, but the conversation's immediate effect is to expose false entitlement and direct a shared inquiry. The final reversal of attendance expresses Alcibiades' willingness to remain with Socrates, not certification that the whole educational task is done.

Places to read

1. 109d–111b23A teacher of justice is demanded; the many’s capacity is evaluated by subject
2. 111b–112d234Agreement and conflict test the proposed teachers’ knowledge
3. 118c–119a2Pericles’ claim is tested through identifiable pupils
4. 124b–124d2Socrates includes himself in the need for education and care

Translation in this edition

Teacher must be distinguished from παιδαγωγός, the attendant or tutor who escorts and supervises a boy. The Persian “royal tutors” are given explicit instructional functions, but that special description does not make every Athenian attendant a διδάσκαλος.

διδασκαλία

Attested: διδασκαλίαν (didaskalian; 111a). At 111a: Teaching or instruction by the many, praised in the domain of Greek usage for which they show competence. Lexical identification: lemma: διδασκαλία. See Teachers.

διδάσκαλος

Attested: διδάσκαλον (didaskalon; 111a). At 111a: An identifiable individual teacher, whose absence does not disprove learning Greek from the many. Lexical identification: lemma: διδάσκαλος. See Teachers.

διδάσκω

Attested: διδάσκειν (didaskein; 111a). At 111a: Teach a subject, an activity requiring that the prospective teacher first know it. Lexical identification: lemma: διδάσκω. See Teachers.

Use in the book

Lysis’ tutor leads him εἰς διδασκάλου, an idiomatic expression meaning to the teacher’s place. Socrates counts teachers among those who exercise authority over the boy. At 210d needing a teacher becomes evidence that Lysis does not yet understand.

The word therefore moves from an ordinary educational role to an argument against self-importance. It does not imply that every teacher is infallible, and the passage does not identify a full curriculum. Reading, writing, and lyre-playing nevertheless supply concrete examples of acquired skills.

Places to read

1. 210dΕἰ δ’ ἄρα σὺ διδασκάλου δέῃ — And if you need a teacher.
2. 208c
3. 208d