Sócrates y el oráculo de Delfos (una nota sobre Platón, Apología de Sócrates, 20c4-23c1)

Abstract

Starting from a brief restatement of the everlasting “Socratic problem”, this paper deals with a famous passage of Plato’s Apology (surely one of the main sources of the Socratic legend), the story about the Delphic oracle, trying to avoid the false hermeneutic dilemma of fictionalism versus historicism. Two basic points emerge from this exploration: first, that the passage as a whole is designed to offer a portrait of the philosopher, to articulate –indirectly and ironically— a concept of the essence of philosophy as the practice of an aporetic search and selfknowledge; and second, that the narrative itself seems inspired by Heraclitus, and is full of Heraclitean references. The conclusion is the suggestion that both points are connected: Plato’s characterization of philosophy is not only rooted in the figure of Socrates (however the latter is interpreted), but also in ethical and metaphysical ideas expressed undoubtedly by Heraclitus.