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The Complexity of Socratic Irony: A Note on Professor Vlastos' Account1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Paula Gottlieb
Paula Gottlieb
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Extract

Professor Vlastos argues that Socratic irony was responsible for a momentous change in the way in which irony was understood in ancient times. Before Socrates, he argues, irony is connected with lying and deceit, but after Socrates it is associated with wit and urbanity. Vlastos claims that Socratic irony is distinctive and complex. According to Vlastos, Socratic irony involves no hint of deception; it consists simply in saying something which when understood in one way is false, but when understood in another way is true.

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , May 1992 , pp. 278 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1992

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References

2 In Greek, ‘εἰρωνεία’, in Latin, ‘ironia’.

3 Plato, Apology 36d.

4 Stone, I. F., The Trial of Socrates (Boston, 1988).Google Scholar

5 Cicero, De Oratore 2.67; Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 9.22.44.