Plato II

Abstract

This second of our three Plato chapters focuses on Kofman’s major work Socrates: Fictions of a Philosopher (1989). It uses the trope of family romances (narratives constructed by children regarding family figures), which Kofman takes from Freud, to present the way in which she approaches the figure of Socrates through depictions of him in Plato, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. Having provided some contextualization to begin, the chapter is structured around three comparative frameworks which Kofman shows being used to deal with the impact that Socrates has had. These frameworks are provided by the figures of the tragic hero, Christ, and the pairing of Apollo/Dionysus. Ranging broadly as they do, these frameworks establish that Socrates represents for Kofman a destabilizing, atopic figure and allows her to deepen her dual engagement with ancient philosophy and psychoanalysis.