Talking Gibberish? Socrates’ Daimonion

Communicating with others thrives on communicating with ourselves. For being unaware of ourselves – of our inner drives and affects – can seriously impede our relation with others. Socrates, who in many respects still holds as a paradigm for intellectual communication, supposedly suffered from an ‘inner voice’ telling him often not to do what he was about to undertake.

This Socratic ‘inner voice’ has given rise to many debates, from Antiquity onwards. While some saw the so-called daimonion as a hidden access to the divine (Plutarch), or to his inner depths (Carl du Prel), others ( Kierkegaard) interpreted it as a harbinger of the Modern solipsistic Ego. Still others, such as Hegel, saw it as harmless, since purely individual and without any social relevance.

It remains fascinating that at crucial moments the father of Western philosophy resorted to an inner voice, inaccessible to others. Provided it is not a symptom of a psychopathology (which can never be excluded), how to make sense of this inner voice today? Learn more about the ‘inner voice’ in the lecture from Rico Sneller. Being strongly interested in the obscure sides of consciousness, he will take us on a journey through mysticism, telepathy, ecstasy, clairvoyance, creativity, eros, etcetera.

Bio – Dr. Rico Sneller (Bennekom, 1967) is assistant professor of philosophy at Leiden University, Institute of Philosophy. He is also vice-president of the global network organization Alternative perspectives and Global Concerns. Together with two colleagues he published Wild Beasts of the Philosophical Desert. Philosophers on Telepathy and Other Exceptional Experiences, Cambridge Publishers 2014.