Chad asked:

"Discuss Socrates' claim to be a midwife of ideas. How does this fit with what Socrates does in other
passages from the Theaetetus (the relativism passage, and the passage on virtues as 'becoming like
God'?"

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I'm afraid I can't help you with the specific passages from Theaetetusbut when Socrates describes
himself as a midwife of ideas, he is describing his basic method — known as the Socratic method.

In the early Plato dialogues we don't find Socrates explicitly stating what he believes to be the case.
Rather, we find him questioning people about their own ideas. Once a person has explained his
opinion on a particular issue Socrates attempts to show that the position they have described
contradicts something that they have stated previously, or that the position they hold has
consequences which the individual finds undesirable. That person, faced with the contradictory nature
of his or her own opinion, is then forced to come out with an alternative, more consistent, view.

In this way, Socrates hopes to find knowledge. Through the constant questioning and refinement of
people's ideas Socrates hopes, ultimately, to find a consistent (and therefore true) answer.

He describes himself as a midwife of ideas because, although he does not actually state his own
opinion, he is there when others do. He is present when the person he is questioning "gives birth" to a
new idea. And, just as the midwife does at a human birth, Socrates sees his job as one of testing to
see whether the "newborn" idea is "stillborn" or "viable". In other words, is the new idea capable of
surviving the challenges presented to it by Socrates, or is it rationally unsustainable?

As far as answering the question above is concerned, it really is nothing more than examining the
arguments in the passages you list, and describing the method by which Socrates "delivers" the new
ideas from the people he is questioning and tests them for viability.

Simon Drew