“And I would ask you to be thinking of the truth and not of Socrates: agree with me, if I seem to you to be speaking the truth; or if not, withstand me might and main, that I may not deceive you as well as myself in my enthusiasm, and like the bee, leave my sting in you before I die.”
- Source
- Phaedo
- Date
- 4th century BCE
- Local voice
- Dialogue speaker · Socrates
- English wording
- Benjamin Jowett — Translator · from Ancient Greek
Meaning of “And I would ask you to be thinking…”
Facing death, Socrates asks his friends to challenge the argument he is defending if they find it mistaken. His emphasis is on testing whether a claim is true rather than accepting it because of the speaker’s reputation, even when that speaker is himself. The appeal belongs to a debate, not a universal guarantee that his view of the soul is correct.
Where does it come from?
Phaedo, approximately Stephanus 91b–c, Socrates speaking to Simmias and Cebes after their objections to the arguments about the soul’s survival. He specifically asks them to contradict him if they think his reasoning is wrong. This is a complete sentence from Benjamin Jowett’s English translation, Project Gutenberg #1658, in the dialogue after the translator’s separate introduction. Socrates is a character and local speaker; do not attribute the sentence as a direct personal remark by Plato.
Why the local voice matters
Phaedo, around Stephanus 91b–c: Socrates asks Simmias and Cebes to test his argument about the soul rather than simply defer to Socrates; Benjamin Jowett English, Gutenberg #1658.
