The Logic of Tragedy and the Tragedy of Logic: Reason and Rhetoric in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus and Plato's Ion

Peter P Moschovis and Frederick Ahl, Cornell University

Fifth-century Greek culture produced two important literary traditions, one dramatic and one philosophical. A parallel look at the devices of tragedy and dialogue reveals several important similarities, and this paper argues that the strategies of Sophocles and Plato, both masters in their respective genres, are fundamentally related. As fifth-century Athenians who were used to examining difficult issues in a public way, I believe that each drew on the strengths of his respective literary tradition to explore the all-important questions of knowledge, persuasion, and personal identity.

I begin by analyzing an example of each author's work, carefully attending to the interplay of logic and rhetoric in the conversation. The forms of the dialectic are remarkably similar, and the interlocutors' positions in both cases have much in common. I then step back to examine the two works more macroscopically, exploring two interrelated areas: (1) the respective roles of the reader and author in determining a character's fate and moral responsibility; and (2) the insights gained into the limits of language and reason through Plato's critique of the poets.