Teleology in Phaedo’s Biographical Account

The aim of this paper is to clarify the first section of Socrates’ biographical account (the so-called protos plous or first sailing) in Phaedo 96a-99d.  In this paper I want to challenge the reading of Phaedo that concludes that teleological arguments don’t play an important role in the biographical account and at the same time provide a key for reading the teleological arguments in it. I believe that the key to understand the passage lies first in distinguishing the different dramatis personae adopted by Socrates while telling to his audience his intellectual story so that later we can look for similarities and repeated ideas in Socrates’ different personae . Following this strategy I will show in the first part of the paper that Socrates employs up to three different dramatis personae . This literary analysis will allow me to illustrate in the second part of the paper how Socrates not only thought that teleological arguments were of the outmost importance for philosophy, but more importantly that he maintained the same rough sketch of teleological arguments since his younger days to the present. Namely, that nous orders the universe according to the value of the best.