ABSTRACT
An old midwife helping a young mother with her delivery-that is the image introduced by Socrates to describe the process of giving birth to new knowledge (ἐπιστήμη).1 This metaphor for the relation between teacher and disciple, and between knowledge and ignorance, is so rich that it has given rise to a philosophical tradition called maieutics, which combines pedagogy, epistemology, and a theory of communication. In Kierkegaard’s dissertation, The Concept of Irony, he returns several times to the image of a midwife in order to describe Socrates’ relation to his interlocutors. In later texts, he continues to develop this image as an ideal for indirect communication (indirekte Meddelelse). According to Kierkegaard, all communication concerning existence ought to be indirect. All the same, the influence of Socratic maieutics on his thinking cannot be limited to a “theory” of communication; it concerns rather the heart of his thinking as a whole. It is a pattern that dominates his thoughts on epistemology (for example, in Philosophical Fragments) as well as his plea for a fundamental rethinking of theology and philosophy (for example, in the Postscript). His enthusiasm for the Socratic method even amounts to an appeal for a new Socrates:
Popular opinion maintains that the world needs a republic, needs a new social order and a new religion-but no one considers that what the world, confused simply by too much knowledge, needs is a Socrates. Of course, if anyone thought of it, not to mention if many thought of it, he would be less needed. Invariably, what error needs most is
I am grateful to Jonathan Weant and the editors for language assistance. Given the topic for this article, though, my deepest gratitude goes to Angela for bearing up against the travail and thus giving birth to Jonas, Maria, Tim, and Sara. 1 Cf. Theaetetus, 148e-151b. All quotations from Plato’s works follow the translation of Hamilton and Cairns, in Plato: The Collected Dialogues, ed. by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1961. All references are to the Stephanus pagination. Greek quotations refer to the critical edition of the Greek text published by Société d’Édition, Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1964-68, here quoted from Platons Werke in acht Bänden, vols. 1-8, ed. by Gunther Eigle, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1978-86. Kierkegaard refers to Platonis quæ exstant Opera. Accedunt 1, ed. by Friederich Ast, Leipzig: Weidmann 1819-
be error.
