Introduction

At the outset, I claimed that only through careful attention to the political content of the dialogue could we understand Plato's examination of the meaning of knowledge in the Theaetetus. Such attention enables us to see more clearly that, and why, knowledge is a problem. It allows us to appreciate as well the ongoing significance of that problem for the practice of philosophy. Because that significance persists, consideration of political life remains a requisite of philosophic inquiry.

The rationale for this requirement derives ultimately from the importance of the question of human good and the enduring perplexities surrounding its determination. We have access to the range of issues surrounding this question especially through the cognitive capacity called phronesis. The same considerations that make political inquiry central to philosophy designate wisdom, philosophy's object, as phronesis. In the Theaetetus, Socrates clothes phronesis in the garb of midwifery. He formulates this practice in recognition of the problems that attend philosophic inquiry and the existential significance of those problems. This being the case, Socrates' maieutics stands already as an achievement of phronesis. It is also the means to its further acquisition. Accordingly, in the concluding passages of this his valedictory, Socrates leaves for Theaetetus, and for any potential Socratic philosopher listening in, a picture of his strange, perplexity-inducing activity. In this final act of midwifery, he lets the wise midwife stand as the image of his life, available for any willing and able to emulate.