CharmidesCharmides by Plato
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Temperance is the subject of this Socratic dialogue, debated with Charmides and Critias. The opening may feel a bit icky as it's essentially a few old men obsessing over beautiful youths (of which Charmides is one) in a way that may not explicitly be lecherous, but kind of feels that way. However, they soon get into systematic reflections of the nature of temperance. Charmides is said to have this quality in droves, but, of course, that begs the question of just what it is.

It's worth noting, they aren't using "temperance" in the way the English word is typically defined, i.e. the quality of knowing to what degree one should participate in varied activities, if at all. At least, they don't get to that definition within the dialogue, but – in point of fact – they don't arrive at any definition. However, they seem to equate "temperance" with "wisdom." They do try out a series of alternate definitions, which Socrates systematically disassembles, including: temperance as quietness, as modesty, as "doing one's own business," as a science of itself and of the absence of science, and as the science of recognizing good and evil. The first couple of these are summarily dismissed, the latter ones take more effort and elaboration to tease out, but ultimately don't produce a definition that's both agreeable and useful.

In the process there is a discussion of epistemology as it pertains to what one can know, and whether one can have any clear understanding of one's "known unknowns" and how they compare to the "unknown unknowns." The relevance is rooted in a discussion of whether temperance is the ability to know what one knows and what one doesn't.

This isn't one of the best Socratic dialogues, but it does provide food for thought.

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