The curious case of knowledge and happiness in Plato’s “Charmides”

Abstract

The present paper deals with the rather convoluted relationship between happiness and knowledge in the Charmides. The main argument rests on an analysis of the three utopian narratives of the dialogue and the respective societies constructed by them: a) the entropic City of self-sufficient Clones (161e-162a); b) the Sophronopolis that boasts epistemocracy, or the rule of the experts, as its only governing principle (171d); and c) the Sophronopolis Reloaded, a dreamland in which it is impossible for one to make any mistake whatsoever (173a-d). The net result of these narratives is that, in the textual universe of the Charmides, there is no guarantee that a life free from error is actually the royal road to happiness. In other words, the question «Are the ἐπιστημόνως ζῶντες εὐδαίμονες (173e)?» cannot be unequivocally answered in the affirmative.