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The word »'parrhesia'« first appears in Greek literature in the work of Euripides. It means »speaking out« or »free speech.« But we can distinguish two types of 'parrhesia': on the one hand there is 'chatter' - garrulously saying everything that comes to mind. This is 'parrhesia' in the pejorative sense. On the other hand there is a positive sense of 'parrhesia' which means to speak out 'on behalf of the truth'. Michel Foucault traced the changes in the function of, and criteria for recognizing, the 'parrhesiastes' [the one who uses 'parrhesia'] from Euripides to the late Stoics and the beginnings of Christianity. But there he left off. I want to compare Socrates and Kierkegaard as 'parrhesiastes' to mark some of the changes and continuities from the early Platonic context to the modern Christian context. Along the way I also want to draw attention to the roles of Socrates' 'daimonion' and Kierkegaard's 'Styrelse' in their respective forms of 'parrhesia'. |
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