Socrates in the Classroom: Xenophon’s Memorabilia in the Light of Classroom CA

The Socratic dialogues of Plato and those of Xenophon—particularly the Memorabilia, which is the focus of this chapter—have often been compared, almost invariably to Xenophon’s disadvantage. This chapter addresses these compositional and stylistic differences using tools from Conversation Analysis, comparing selected passages from both authors. It argues that, unlike Plato’s dialogues, most of the exchanges recorded in Xenophon’s Memorabilia gravitate toward the pole of communicative ‘distance’. The analysis demonstrates that Xenophon conceptualizes dialogue—or, more precisely, Socrates’ role within it—quite differently from Plato, with each author assigning the philosopher a distinct conversational project. More specifically, the chapter contends that many interactions in the Memorabilia resemble a classroom setting, where institutional parameters shape the discourse in ways largely absent from ordinary conversation. This perspective accounts for many of the alleged stylistic ‘limitations’ of Xenophon’s portrayal and highlights his distinctive aim: Xenophon’s conversational method is deliberate, reflecting an alternative engagement with Socratic thought and pedagogy.