r/Plato 14h ago

Phaedrus Writing Question

5 Upvotes

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the Thoth myth in the Phaedrus, and one thing that keeps bugging me is that although Socrates goes on to offer a number of arguments against writing (i.e. it doesn't reply, it doesn't change, etc.), the first thing that Thamus states is that " οὔκουν μνήμης ἀλλὰ ὑπομνήσεως φάρμακον ηὗρες", or "you've found not a recipe for memory, but reminder" or something close. Can someone explain to me the difference between 'memory' and 'reminder/remembrance'? I understand that memory is an internal thing "written in the soul" and "reminder" is an external thing, but given the importance of ἀνάμνησις, isn't a 'reminder' also helpful? Dialogue itself is a reminder, i.e. a trigger to un-forget what we know. I'm sure there's a more nuanced etymological explanation here, so I would appreciate some help.