Editing Daimon (section)

===Socrates===
{{main|Daimonion (Socrates)}}
In Plato's ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', the priestess [[Diotima of Mantinea|Diotima]] teaches [[Socrates]] that love is not a deity, but rather a "great daimōn" (202d). She goes on to explain that "everything daimōnion is between divine and mortal" (202d–e), and she describes daimōns as "interpreting and transporting human things to the gods and divine things to men; entreaties and sacrifices from below, and ordinances and requitals from above..." (202e). In Plato's ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology of Socrates]]'', Socrates claimed to have a ''daimōnion'' (literally, a "divine something")<ref>Plato, ''Apology'' 31c–d, 40a; p. 16, Burnet, ''Plato's Euthyprho, Apology of Socrates, and Crito''.</ref> that frequently warned him—in the form of a "voice"—against mistakes but never told him what to do.<ref>pp. 16–17, Burnet, ''Plato's Euthyprho, Apology of Socrates, and Crito''; pp. 99–100, M. Joyal, "''To Daimonion'' and the Socratic Problem", ''Apeiron'' vol. 38 no. 2, 2005.</ref> The Platonic Socrates, however, never refers to the ''daimonion'' as a ''daimōn''; it was always referred to as an impersonal "something" or "sign".<ref>p. 16, Burnet, ''Plato's Euthyprho, Apology of Socrates, and Crito''; p. 63, P. Destrée, "The ''Daimonion'' and the Philosophical Mission", ''Apeiron'' vol. 38 no. 2, 2005.</ref> By this term he seems to indicate the true nature of the human [[soul]], his newfound [[self-consciousness]].<ref>Paolo De Bernardi, ''Socrate, il demone e il risveglio'', from "Sapienza", no. 45, ESD, Naples 1992, pp. 425–43.</ref> [[Paul Shorey]] sees the ''daimonion'' not as an inspiration but as "a kind of ''spiritual tact'' checking Socrates from any act opposed to his true moral and intellectual interests."<ref>''The Republic'', volume 2, p. 52, note, italics added.</ref>

Regarding the charge brought against Socrates in 399 BC, Plato surmised "Socrates does wrong because he does not believe in the gods in whom the city believes, but introduces other daemonic beings..." Burkert notes that "a special being watches over each individual, a ''daimōn'' who has obtained the person at his birth by lot, is an idea which we find in Plato, undoubtedly from earlier tradition. The famous, paradoxical saying of [[Heraclitus]] is already directed against such a view: 'character is for man his daimon{{'"}}.<ref name="Burkert1985"/>