Publication Details

Abstract

The concept of shame (αἰσχύνη) plays a cardinal role in Plato’s Gorgias. Plato works with this concept by dramatically influencing the characters’ actions and discourses throughout the dialogue. It has the most frequent and most important position in the part in which Socrates discusses with the young Athenian politician Callicles. The study analyzes and interprets the ways in which Plato’s Callicles worked with shame in his “opening speech” (482c4 – 486d1). The author focuses on the distinction between two functions of shame: (1) negative – (1.1) as an impulse to correct opinions, (1.2) as a consequence of lack of courage, (1.3) as a tool of the weak to control the “naturally strong” and (2) positive – as an instrument of discredit (Callicles’ attempt to bring shame to Socrates).