Plato on Euripides and baccheia as a metaphor of higher cognition

This chapter examines Plato’s use of the sympotic culture of his time to coin a metaphor about genuine philosophical inspiration, exemplified by Socrates, and its paramount civic benefits. Although it was Aristotle who formulated an early theory of metaphor, Plato’s ubiquitous use of metaphors to defend Socratic inebriation as a mind-altering, though fundamentally sober experience, points to a set of implicit theoretical principles that have found fuller expression in modern analytic philosophy through cognitive phenomenology. “Structural or conceptual metaphors”, introduced by Lakoff and Johnson, find effortless application in Plato’s dialogues, especially the Symposium, the Phaedrus, and the Phaedo where Socrates is portrayed as an inspired follower of Dionysus. The key argument of the chapter is that Plato draws on Euripides’ normative representation of Dionysian ecstasy in the Bacchae to convince his readers of Socrates’ superior mental state while rejecting inauthentic forms of ecstasy. Furthermore, Plato recommends Socratic inebriation as a model of civic ethos that the citizens of Magnesia ought to aspire to; detailed in the Laws, Plato explains how education in correct sympotic attitude produces sound-mindedness/sōphrosynē. Thus, Plato is using wine and drunkenness to defend the cognitive expansion that engaging with philosophy can achieve both for individuals and states.