Clouds V [redux]

Language, politics, religion, and justice: in a word, the nomos

Skipping over the chorus, and picking back up Socrates re-emerging from the thinkery, we see the teacher is not satisfied with the progress of the student. The first question that Socrates asks is, “Come now, what do you first wish to learn now of the things that you’ve never been taught at all?” (636-7) Socrates then narrows it by giving some options: meters, words, or rhythms. If you could learn anything at all, why would you begin with meters, words, or rhythms? With what would you want to begin?

Strepsiades selects meters but understands meters to be measures. Next, we get to see the problem of the gendered aspect of language, which is more apparent in Greek or French or German or Spanish than it is in English. Why are some words masculine, some feminine, and some neuter? Is it connected to how we perceive the things to which the words refer? But what about things the words for which the gender is different depending on the language? For example, ‘ear’ is masculine in Italian (orrechio), feminine in French (oreille), and neuter in German (Ohr). Why pay attention to language? If political discourse depends on language, then we are in trouble if language does not refer to reality. One need only think of some of the connotations of language to see that how things are labeled can be politically significant: consider the differences between pro-choice and pro-death, pro-life and anti-abortion. If anything, we should be more attuned to the importance of language in politics.

Regardless, we should notice that Socrates is quite persistent in his attempts to teach Strepsiades. In fact he seems eager to teach, that is until Strepsiades says he will hang himself to get out of the lawsuits. At that point he sends him away. Despite the fact that Socrates was never quite satisfied with what Strepsiades seem to learn, later when he confronts his creditors, we get to see that Strepsiades did in fact learn something.

Having been unsuccessful in his attempt to learn how to make the weaker speech the stronger, Strepsiades now compels his son to go to the thinkery. He wants him to learn both kinds of speech. Or if not both, then at least the weaker speech, unjust speech, that is, he wants him to learn to speak against all the just things.

At this point Socrates leaves the stage. Pheidippides is going to learn the speeches from the speeches themselves. Unjust Speech claims to have more power in the crowd or with the many than privately. He claims to discover novel notions – but note of the characters we have seen so far, the only people to have discovered novel notions are Socrates and Aristophanes. Just speech, on the other hand, is the old-fashioned, traditional view of justice, which claims that justice is with the gods. And yet, Zeus did not perish when he bound his father. This single fact means that Just Speech cannot appeal to the gods from now on – if the gods are not just and how can you locate justice with them?