Resumen
Resumen de Cármides
Para quién es
For readers who love exploring self-control, self-knowledge and how Socrates argues, and anyone curious about a first step into Plato.
De qué trata este libro
Charmides is a short dialogue by Plato, written in Athens in the early part of the fourth century BC. It asks one plain question: what is temperance? The dialogue also speaks of self-control and wisdom. Socrates, the main speaker, tells the story of a conversation held just after he returns from a hard campaign at Potidaea.
The scene is a wrestling school in Athens, and the talk soon turns to a beautiful young man named Charmides. Socrates tests him, and then his guardian Critias, on what temperance really is. Each answer is examined and found wanting, yet each teaches something. You will hear five attempts at a definition, the odd claim that the soul can be healed like the body, and a strange idea of a knowledge that knows itself. Let us begin with the setting and the cure that opens the talk.
En este resumen
- 1A beautiful boy and a cureFree
- 2Heal the soul, and the whole person
- 3Quietness and shame fail as answers
- 4Minding your own business is a riddle
- 5A knowledge that knows itself
- 6Knowledge of good, and an open end
Idea clave 1 de 6
A beautiful boy and a cure
The dialogue opens with Socrates back in Athens after the battle at Potidaea. He visits the wrestling school of Taureas and is pressed by his friend Chaerephon for news of the war. Socrates is more interested in the young men, and asks who is now admired for wisdom or beauty. Critias points to Charmides, his cousin.
When Charmides walks in, Socrates is amazed by his beauty and height. Socrates then finds a way to speak with him. He says he knows a remedy for the headache that Charmides has been suffering from. It is a leaf, he says, but it only works when joined with a charm.
This is a clever opening, because it lets a doctor's talk lead into a talk about the soul. Socrates does not yet ask what temperance is. He first sets a puzzle about how healing works and whom it should reach. The reader sees at once that the dialogue joins desire, the body and the mind.
It also shows Socrates' habit of beginning with a small, ordinary matter and moving to a large one. A headache cure becomes a question about how to live. That small step is how many of Plato's dialogues work, and here it gives the whole conversation its frame.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Socrates
- Socrates is an Athenian philosopher who questions Charmides and Critias about temperance after returning from military service.
- Charmides
- Charmides is a beautiful young Athenian under Critias's guardianship whom Socrates asks to explain the nature of temperance.
- Critias
- Critias is Charmides's guardian, who joins Socrates in examining whether temperance consists in knowing oneself.
- Chaerephon
- Chaerephon is Socrates's enthusiastic friend, who welcomes him back and asks about the fighting at Potidaea.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 22,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 1 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 10 other languages
Questions about Cármides
What is Charmides about?
It is a dialogue in which Socrates asks what temperance is. He talks with a handsome young man, Charmides, and his guardian Critias. They try several definitions, and each is tested and found lacking.
What does sophrosyne mean in Charmides?
Temperance is the central question of Charmides by Plato. Socrates asks Charmides and Critias what it is, testing their proposed definitions through a series of questions.
Who were Charmides and Critias?
Both were related to Plato. Charmides was a young man admired for his looks, and Critias was his cousin and guardian. Both later took part in the oligarchic rule of the Thirty in 404 BC.
Does Charmides give a final definition of temperance?
No. Several definitions are offered and tested, but the dialogue ends in aporia, a state of puzzlement. Plato seems to want readers to keep thinking about the question themselves.
Is Charmides hard to read?
No. It opens with a lively scene at a wrestling school, where Socrates returns from war and meets a beautiful young man. The talk then follows one plain question, what is temperance, with each short answer tested in turn.