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Summary

This chapter offers an investigation of what Socrates may have meant when, in his infamous appearance before a jury at Athens in 399 BCE, he referred to himself as a myōps – typically translated as a gadfly. The chapter illustrates that the natural world does not just serve to naturalize (and thus normalize) collective political systems that are already firmly in place. As in the case of Socrates, it can also serve as a potent strategy to seek to naturalize (and thus normalize) the individual political stance outside of the collective. The chapter shows that, by carving out a space for dissent, Socrates defined a form of citizenship that resonates far beyond the ancient world. It, for example, helps to explain the ambivalence surrounding modern dissenting voices (such as those of Julian Assange, Michael Moore, and Edward Snowden). The chapter ultimately traces the buzzing of the Socratic gadfly into Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy and illustrates the important tole that this peculiar ancient creature plays in her critique of the perils of modernity.

The standard translation of μύΩΨ in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 30e is ‘gadfly’. However, this word was generally translated as ‘spur’ until the 1800s. This article re-evaluates the scholarship that led to the ‘gadfly’ translation and argues that the ‘spur’ translation is correct based on the use elsewhere in Greek literature of μύΩΨ and other significant words in the passage.

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Chapter 8 - The Socratic Gadfly (Haematopota oxyglotta socratis)

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Gadfly or Spur? The Meaning of ΜΎΩΨ in Plato’s Apology of Socrates

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Chapter 8 - The Socratic Gadfly (Haematopota oxyglotta socratis)

Summary

Gadfly or Spur? The Meaning of ΜΎΩΨ in Plato’s Apology of Socrates