Socrates’s anecdote about magnets serves as a symbol of inspiration. Socrates notes how a magnet “not only pulls those rings, if they’re iron, it also puts the power in the rings so that they, in turn, can do what the stone does—pull other rings” (941). By analogy, because poetic inspiration comes from the gods, it is so powerful that it can move multiple people, albeit in different ways and with different force. Socrates notes “Just as if it hung from that stone, there’s an enormous chain of choral dancers and dance teachers and assistant teachers hanging off to the sides of the rings that are suspended from the Muse” (943). This metaphor reflects Plato’s understanding of art as several “removes” from reality. The further one gets from the magnet, the weaker the magnetic force. As one gets further from the source of the inspiration (the gods), one gets further from reality, truth, or knowledge.

For the ancient Greeks, the capacity to reason is what makes us human; it distinguishes us from all the other animals. Reason is responsible for humans’ ability to do math, use language, and think about the future.