Catherine Zuckert “Socrates’ Search for Self-Knowledge”

Early in the Phaedrus, Socrates tells his interlocutor that he does not have time to formulate naturalistic re-interpretations of old stories, because he is “not yet able, according to the Delphic inscription, to know myself. Indeed, it appears laughable to me for one who is still ignorant of this to examine alien things… [So] I examine not them but myself” (229e5-230a6). But Socrates does not tell Phaedrus why he thinks it is ridiculous for someone to seek knowledge of other things, before he comes to know what kind of being he is, or how he seeks self-knowledge.  To find answers to these questions, we have to look at the parts of the only four of the 35 dialogues in which he explicitly discusses his search: Apology of Socrates, Alcibiades I, Charmides, and Phaedrus, and try to put them together.