The Retrospective Assignment of Rationality to the Socratic <i>Daimonion</i>

The much-discussed divine voice that arrested Socrates’ actions raises a question about the ethics of belief. How can Socrates honour the requirements of rational self-examination, yet obey the daimonion sign without thinking? Recently scholars have revived the question so that it avoids one locus for debates over the ethics of belief. Another problem then threatens, but the Platonic analysis of perception and judgement shows how Socrates can justifiably perceive the voice as divine, hence has reason to obey at once. Indeed, Plato's analysis of perceptual judgement indicates the caution needed when applying modern epistemological questions to ancient knowledge claims.