This course will ask what “writing” was, is, and might be—both in ancient Greek thought and in our contemporary world—and whether it is essential to philosophical thinking. Socrates’ view in Plato’s Phaedrus is that written works are akin to the oral performances of rhapsodes, since both are helpless to defend themselves and can only ever sing the same tune. Rather than strengthening our memory, writing makes us more forgetful. That this is Plato’s Socrates’ written critique of writing (in the form of a spoken dialogue) suggests there is more to the story than meets the eye or ear, especially given Socrates’ late-in-life turn to composition and suggestions in Plato that insight might be equivalent to madness. Is writing silent on something that speaking conceals by turning up the volume? In what form does the power of words reside? Our reading for the course will include Plato’s Phaedrus, Plato’s Ion, Rousseau’s Reveries of the Solitary Walker, and essays by Derrida and Cixous. We will additionally consider how AI might be reframed and critiqued through ancient Greek rhapsody.