Whither and Whence We Go, Where We Stop Nobody Knows: Prophecy, Ἔρως, and Self-Knowledge in the Phaedrus

Abstract

Beginning the Phaedrus, Socrates greets Phaedrus saying,"Dear Phaedrus, whither and whence?" This essay will unfold the salutation, exposing its power to disclose the erotic phenomena portrayed in the dialogue. Moreover, the erotic soul's incorporation of future and past, its implementation of memory and prophecy, its agency and passivity, and its relation to these ways of being reveals its ability to know itself. However, the temporality in which the soul reveals itself is neither chronological nor dialectical but ecstatic, characterized as prophetic, for"the soul is somehow prophetic" and Socrates is"a kind of prophet." The essay delves into the prophetic nature of the soul and its significance in understanding Socratic erotic self-knowledge in the Phaedrus.