«Тахиййат»: Сборник статей в честь Н. Н. Дьякова

Beyond the Boundaries:an Egyptian Literary Adaptation of Greek Philosophy m 81 n midwifery to philosophical inquiry. Etman makes Socrates himself say the fol- lowing words to his friend, Chaerephon, in reaction to the oracle of Delphi which declared that no one is wiser than Socrates (Etman 2008a, p. 15): Socrates: First, this matter of the oracle should submit to my method of examination and clarification. Socrates means that his starting point is to doubt its validity, and then comes confirmation through mediation and dialogue. Etman thus displays Socrates' method of submitting everything to rational scrutiny. Socrates found truth by his examination of other people's minds. This was his art of “intellectual mid- wifery”. In another context Socrates addresses his wife saying (Etman 2008a, p. 39): “ my job as a philosopher resembles my mother who used to work as a midwife for pregnant women ” . Socrates declares that he helps himself and others to give birth to ideas; he is a sort of a midwife, begetting ideas. He com- pares himself with his mother Phaenarete, a midwife; because his method was to help others bring forth thoughts. It was a brilliant touch of Etman to have something of his own to contrib- ute. His play is embedded in a network of currently political, social, economic, and regional relationships. Among so many topics Socrates converses about, is the war that was going on in the Hellenic world between Athens and Sparta, with reference to the first Gulf war that took place in 1991 between two Arab countries, Kuwait and Iraq. Etman puts into the mouth of Socrates the follow- ing statement, addressing Democratia (Etman 2008a, p. 28): Socrates: And this war is another crime, for Sparta, on which you have declared war, is a neighboring state; there is no need for this war. It shows great stupidity: for instead of uniting the Hellenic nation to confront the main and everlasting enemy, which is the Persian Empire, we squander our efforts in an endless war with our Spartan neighbors, for no reason, except that their political system differs from ours. One may set beside this the following allusive words (Etman 2008a, p. 29): Socrates: … I wonder how two states could fight, whose people worship the same gods and speak one language? Socrates idealized Sparta. In his view, admiration of Sparta can be a form of Athenian patriotism. More than one model for approaching the problem of this war is represented in this very play, as we shall see later on. Although Etman is alluding here apparently to both Kuwait and Iraq, his words could be applied to any two powers in the whole world conflicting, though belonging to the same land and the same culture, it could be applied, one may say, to North and South Korea. Etman addresses, as well, some of the questions at issue in Egypt. Two representative standpoints have been highlighted here: environmental pollu- tion and drugs. During the trial, Socrates reflects on environmental problems.