Daemonic sign

Socrates called this an inner voice which he heard when he was about to make a mistake. It was a voice that prevented Socrates from entering into politics. It was a voice that told Socrates to be silent at his trial. And it was a voice that guided his rational discourse.

Could you say this voice wasn’t an “inner” voice but an external voice from another being, that spoke inside of Socrates mind? Was it the kind of voice that could tell Socrates a joke? Like if an acquaintance told you a joke. Did this voice have a physical presence somehow and could it control Socrates actions? Or you could say, we all hear an inner voice, and Socrates just heard it the loudest.

If we sent a psychiatrist back in time and Socrates went in to their office for a diagnosis and while lying on a stone chaise longue Socrates told the doctor that he heard an inner voice or a divine voice which helped him reach moral conclusions, what would a psychiatrist say?

Nonetheless, we are not psychiatrists and are unable to reach any conclusion (unless some of you are), but is it something that we could speculate on? Perhaps this is not even worthy of speculation, if we are not trained psychiatrists and have no direct dialogue with Socrates.

On the other hand, if Susan heard a similar voice some thousands years later, what would she think, if she for example, saw a youtube video on schizophrenia? Would she try to philosophize or look to philosophy or would she believe she is schizophrenic?

(On a very important side note, this is definitely not a medical evaluation and everyone should definitely go to the doctors :) )

This of course does not mean that Susan is perfectly psychologically healthy aside from the voice. Maybe Susan has paranoia, depression, anxiety, etc.. and she should still nonetheless go to the doctors.

On the other hand, if Susan was right in a sense that it wasn’t schizophrenia, then from the outside perspective Susan would appear somehow withdrawn from society and maybe even appear schizophrenic or psychologically unhealthy because she was so preoccupied with the voice.

It would seem this would always be a dilemna (m) for Susan. In some sense she’d be torn between two worlds.

How do you think Susan and Socrates would behave, if for example a psychiatrist traveled back in time and gave Socrates a diagnosis? Would Susan feel more at home if she went back in time? Or vice versa?