The Limitations of Rationalism: Sophocles' Oedipus and Plato's Socrates

The Limitations of Rationalism: Sophocles' Oedipus and Plato's Socrates William H. Race Univenity ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill In his influential (and frequendy reprinted) article "On Misunderstanding die Oedipus Rex," E. R. Dodds summarily, and on the whole correcdy, disposed ofdiree interpretive heresies:1 (1) the moralizing interpretation diat makes Oedipus guilty ofmoral corruption; (2) the deterministic interpretation diat makes him a puppet of destiny; and (3) die artistic interpretation that makes his story good drama without seriously treating moral or religious issues. But when Dodds comes to offer This artícle first began as a presidential address at the Southern Section ofCAMWS in 1992. I am grateful to Peter Green and the anonymous referee for very helpful criticisms and to James Arieti and Peter Smith for friendly disagreement that helped sharpen my ideas. Finally I wish to thank the students in my Sophocles seminar (Fall 1999) for their insights and improvements. 1 E. K Dodds, "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex," G&R 13 (1966) 37-49; reprinted in SophocUs' Oedipus Tyrannus, L. Berkowitz and T. Brunner, eds. (New York 1970) 218-29; in Greek Tragedy: Modern Essays in Criticism, E. Segal, ed. (Oxford 1983) 177-88; and in SophocUs Oedipus Rex, H. Bloom, ed., (New York 1988) 35—47. Dodds uses the terms "disposed" and "heresies" on pages 41—42 and 45 in the original article. 90SYLLECTA CLASSICA 1 1 (2000) his own interpretation oftheplay, he proposes yetanother heresy, which I would term the humanistic interpretation, diat claims diat Oedipus is a great man simply because he persists in his quest for knowledge, as if persistence were a classical virtue—which it is not. Such appears to be Dodds' conclusion (48):2 Oedipus is great ... in virtue of his inner strength: strength to pursue the truth at whatever personal cost, and strength to accept and endure it when found ... To me personally Oedipus is a kind ofsymbol ofthe human intelligence which cannot rest until it has solved all the riddles. Oedipus the intrepid puzzle-solver, Oedipus die "symbol ofdie human intelligence" diat persists until it has "solved all die riddles"—is diis die upshot ofdie Oedipus TyrannuÁ Does die chorus sayanythingto confirm this? Is this die conclusion diat Oedipus himselfdraws, when he cannot bear to look upon the results ofall his supposed triumphs? What he in fact experiences is the terrible disjunction between his rational abilities to solve problems and die horrifie results ofthose solutions. He discovers whatwe might today call a failed policy, onewhich appeared to raise him to great power and to bring reliefto his adopted city, but which in reality brought pollution to the city for harboring him and personal disgrace to himselfand his family. The chorus indeed says diat he is a symbol—a -pa??de??µa3—not, however, ofhow successful human intelligence is at solving problems, 2 Dodds' interpretation also has roots in Romanticism; cf. Schopenhauer's words in his letter to Goethe (November 11,1815), quoted by C. Segal, in Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism andthe Limits ofKnowUdge (New York 1993, 26): "It is the courage to search problems through to the end that makes the philosopher. He must be like Sophocles' Oedipus, who, in seeking to illuminate his terrible destiny, pursues his quest untiringly, even when he realizes that the answer holds only horror and terror for him." Dodds adds that the "last riddle" to be solved by this restless intelligence is the one "to which the answer is that human happiness is but an illusion."This sounds impressive (and indeed echoes the chorus' speech at 1 186-1204), but it is hardly an answer to any riddle (in the play or elsewhere) and reduces the play to a proto-absurd drama, as Dodds intimates (49) whenhe (tentatively) suggests the play's vision "ought to be comprehensible to a generation which relishes the plays ofSamuel Beckett." 3 The word has additional force because of its rarity in Sophocles; its only other occurrence is at Ichneutae 72, where -pa?ade??µata are "samples." RACE: THE LIMITATIONS OF RATIONALISM9 1 but of how no human can be considered happy, how all of Oedipus' seeming successes have resulted in misery (1 193—1204): t?? s?? TOL ¦p???&???µ' ????, t...