The dream hypothesis · Lexicon

From the book

Charmides

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordOnar means dream.
In the CharmidesThe dream follows a deliberate restoration of two unearned claims: knowledge of knowledge can exist, and its possessor can know what people do and do not know (172c–d).
In this editionThe edition preserves the conditional structure and grants.
A place to readThe two strong concessions framing the scenario.

Meaning

Onar means dream. Here “the dream hypothesis” names the hypothetical social world narrated at 173a–d2, not a second Greek term. Kata tas epistēmas means according to the kinds of knowledge; epistatousan and phylattousa present temperance as presiding and keeping guard.

Use in the book

The dream follows a deliberate restoration of two unearned claims: knowledge of knowledge can exist, and its possessor can know what people do and do not know (172c–d). Socrates asks what would happen if temperance of that kind ruled as fully as possible. No false pilot, doctor or general could deceive us; genuine craftsmen would provide reliable goods and services; if divination too were conceded as knowledge, authentic prophets could replace impostors.

The scenario consequently grants effective expert selection rather than deriving it from the earlier argument. It should not be represented as a successful answer to the diagnostic objection at 170d–171c2. Its purpose is to isolate a new problem: even if the diagnostic power worked, would the resulting life be beneficial and happy?

Socrates agrees it would be knowledgeable, because ignorance could not intrude into the human undertaking (173d). He does not yet agree it would be good. The ensuing question about which field of knowledge matters leads to good and bad (174b). The dream therefore tests sufficiency of reliable technical control for a good life.

The image's uncertainty is also explicit: Socrates does not know through which dream-gate it has come. The literary source is treated separately under Dreams, horn and ivory. Argumentatively, the uncertainty warns that a coherent-looking ideal scenario and its attractive consequences do not by themselves establish the thesis for which they are offered.

Places to read

172c–dThe two strong concessions framing the scenario
173a–d2Reliable expert assignment imagined under temperance
173d–174b2Knowledgeable life distinguished from happiness

Translation in this edition

The edition preserves the conditional structure and grants. “Standing guard” personifies temperance; it does not supply an independently described institution capable of the promised monitoring.

γένος

Attested: γένος (genos). Race or kind, here the human race; names the collective beneficiaries imagined as living under temperance’s supervision. References: 173c. Lexical identification: lemma: γένος. See The dream hypothesis.

κατεσκευασμένον (kateskeuasmenon)

Organized or equipped; describes the human community furnished with genuine experts in the dream hypothesis. References: 173c. Lemma: κατασκευάζω. See The dream hypothesis.

ληρεῖν (lērein)

To talk nonsense; Socrates introduces his dream with a self-deprecating warning. References: 173a. Lemma: ληρέω. See The dream hypothesis.