Study Questions
Dicuss the narrative mode of the Charmides. What is unusual about it? What effect does this have on the dialogue?
How does desire function in the first section of the dialogue?
Define sophrosyne, covering its major aspects.
What are Socrates’ refutations of Charmides’ successive arguments that temperance is ‘quietness’ and ‘modesty’? Is there anything unusual in these refutations?
Why does Socrates claim that the definition of temperance as ‘doing our own business’ must be a riddle?
Discuss the nature and significance of the change of interlocutor from Charmides to Critias.
What are some of the various problems with the notion of self-knowledge or ‘knowledge of knowledge.’
Discuss Critias’s accusation that Socrates is only interested in refuting his proposals, and Socrates’ response to that accusation.
After Socrates suggests the idea that he and Critias are perhaps asking too much from wisdom, the dialogue becomes increasingly disjointed and desperate. What goes wrong?
Discuss the significance of the final exchange of the dialogue (between Charmides and Socrates).
