Ritið : tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar - 01.10.2010, Side 53

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Sókratesi í Skýjunum en Sókrates hefur ekki tækifæri til að bera raunveru-
lega hönd fyrir höfuð sér og verja köllun sína og lífsstarf. Því hefur verið
nauðsynlegt að skrifa einhvers konar andmæli gegn þeirri mynd sem
Aristófanes bregður upp af Sókratesi. Það sem Platon vill koma á framfæri
er sannleikurinn um Sókrates, eins og hann skilur hann, eins konar frum-
mynd Sókratesar, en ekki brengluð eftirmynd hans sem sjá má í Skýjunum
og aðrir halda e.t.v. líka á loft. Af þessu mætti svo draga eftirfarandi álykt-
un: Málsvörnin er ekki málsvörn Sókratesar, heldur er hún málsvörn fyrir
Sókrates. Kannski mætti einfaldlega segja að Málsvörnin sé svar Platons við
Skýjunum.
ABSTRACT
The Clouds and the Apology of Socrates
The standard view that Plato’s Apology of Socrates is a reliable account of Socrates’
defence speech and one of Plato’s earliest writings has been challenged by a num-
ber of scholars in the light of recent critical and literary analysis. In that case the
context of the work is different and intertextual relations play a more prominent
role for the interpretation of the text. While Plato’s Apology divides the charges
against Socrates into two categories, the first and the second accusations, placing
the rumour as reflected in Aristophanes’ Clouds among the first accusations, and
Meletus’ charges among the second, both the first and the second accusations are
to be found in The Clouds. There, Socrates is presented as a natural philosopher
and a sophist who corrupts the youth in various ways and does not believe in the
traditional Greek gods, but in new divinities such as the clouds. If the Apology is a
later work than is usually assumed, written in a different context, then it could be
conceived as Plato’s reply to The Clouds, defending Socrates’ image and reputation
for posterity.
Keywords: Socrates, Plato, Aristophanes, Apology of Socrates, The Clouds, philos-
ophy, literature
SKýIN oG MÁLSVöRN SÓKRATESAR