What Knowledge for the City? Plato and Euripides’ Antiope

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between Plato’s philosophy and Greek tragedy through a comparison between Plato’s Gorgias and Euripides’ lost tragedy Antiope. It argues that Plato constructs philosophy as a new and distinct form of knowledge partly by engaging with and transforming themes from tragic drama. The debate between the brothers Zethus and Amphion in Antiope, which contrasts practical action with intellectual and artistic life, provides an important background for understanding the confrontation between Callicles and Socrates in the Gorgias. Callicles adopts arguments similar to those of Zethus, criticizing philosophy as socially useless and politically ineffective. Socrates responds by redefining philosophical activity as the only true form of political expertise, capable of benefiting the city. Through this reinterpretation, Plato appropriates the tragic debate in order to defend the political value and superiority of philosophy.