Socrates

Socrates was a Greek philosopher who lived in Athens in the fifth century BC. He wrote nothing himself, and he is known through the writings of his students, particularly Plato and Xenophon, and through the plays of Aristophanes.

Life

Socrates was born in Athens around 470 BC. His father was a stonemason and his mother a midwife. He served as a soldier in the Peloponnesian War and was known for his courage and endurance.

He spent his life in conversation in the public places of Athens, questioning his fellow citizens about the nature of virtue, justice, and knowledge. He held no formal position and taught no fixed doctrine, and he wrote nothing.

He was tried and condemned to death in 399 BC on charges of impiety and of corrupting the young. He refused to escape and drank poison, an event described in Plato's Apology and Phaedo.

The Socratic Method

The Socratic method is a form of inquiry in which the questioner examines the beliefs of the interlocutor through a series of questions, exposing inconsistencies and encouraging reflection.

The method assumes that the interlocutor has a latent knowledge that the questioning brings to light. Its outcome is often the recognition of ignorance, which Socrates regarded as the beginning of wisdom.

The Socratic Paradoxes

Socrates is associated with several paradoxes. The first is that virtue is knowledge, which implies that those who do wrong do so out of ignorance. The second is that no one knowingly does wrong, which follows from the first.

The paradoxes have been interpreted in various ways. They reflect the view that virtue is a matter of knowledge and that the good life is a life of reason.

The Trial and Death

The trial of Socrates is described in the Apology, in which he defends his life of inquiry and refuses to abandon it. He was convicted and sentenced to death, and he refused the opportunity to escape.

His death made him a symbol of the pursuit of truth and of the independence of the philosopher. It influenced the development of philosophy and the conception of the philosopher's role in society.

Legacy

Socrates is regarded as a founder of Western philosophy. His emphasis on inquiry, on the examination of beliefs, and on the search for definitions shaped the work of Plato and of Aristotle.

The problem of the historical Socrates, the question of what he actually taught as distinct from the Socrates of Plato's dialogues, remains a subject of scholarly debate.

The Sources

The main sources for Socrates are the dialogues of Plato, the writings of Xenophon, and the Clouds of Aristophanes. The sources differ, and the question of which gives the most accurate picture is the problem of the historical Socrates.

Plato's early dialogues are generally considered the most reliable, though they are also literary works. Xenophon's writings present a more conventional figure, and Aristophanes presents a comic caricature.

The problem has been debated for centuries, and the different portraits have shaped different interpretations of Socrates and of his philosophy.

The Elenchus

The elenchus is the method of cross-examination that Socrates uses in the early dialogues. He questions the interlocutor about a definition, and he shows that the definition is inconsistent with other beliefs that the interlocutor holds.

The method does not establish a positive doctrine, but it refutes the pretensions of the interlocutor and leads to the recognition of ignorance. Socrates described himself as a midwife who helps others to bring forth their ideas.

The Trial

The trial of Socrates took place in 399 BC, after the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. He was accused of impiety and of corrupting the young, charges that were probably political in origin.

His defence, as recorded in Plato's Apology, is a defence of the philosophical life. He argued that the unexamined life is not worth living, and he refused to abandon his practice of questioning.

The Legacy

Socrates is regarded as a founder of Western philosophy and as a model of the philosophical life. His emphasis on inquiry and on the examination of beliefs shaped the work of Plato and of Aristotle.

His method and his example influenced the development of philosophy, of education, and of the conception of the intellectual's role in society. He is remembered as a martyr to the pursuit of truth.

Summary

Socrates is one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy, though he wrote nothing himself. His method, his trial, and his death made him a symbol of the philosophical life and of the search for wisdom.

The Socratic Method and Its Aims

The Socratic method proceeds by question and answer, and it exposes the weaknesses in the definitions that are proposed. The interlocutor is led to see that his confident opinion cannot be sustained, and he is left in a state of perplexity.

Socrates claimed that he knew nothing and that his wisdom consisted only in the recognition of his own ignorance. The oracle at Delphi, according to Plato, declared that no one was wiser than Socrates, and Socrates interpreted this as a charge to examine himself and others.

The aim of the method was not merely to refute but to encourage the care of the soul, the pursuit of virtue, and the examined life. Socrates held that virtue is knowledge and that no one does wrong knowingly.

The Trial and Its Significance

Socrates was brought to trial in 399 BC on charges of impiety and of corrupting the young. He was convicted and sentenced to death, and he refused the opportunity to escape.

His defence, as presented by Plato, is a defence not only of himself but of the philosophical life. He argued that the unexamined life is not worth living, and he accepted the verdict with composure.

The execution of Socrates became a symbol of the conflict between the philosopher and the city, and it shaped the subsequent tradition of political thought. His death is reported in the Phaedo, and his last conversation concerns the immortality of the soul.

Influence and Reception

The influence of Socrates is difficult to measure, because he wrote nothing, and it is inseparable from the writings of his pupils. The sceptical tradition, the Stoics, and the Cynics all claimed him as an ancestor.

Socrates was also a moral example, and his life and death were taken to illustrate the integrity of the philosophical vocation. He has been invoked by thinkers across the centuries, from Montaigne to Kierkegaard to Nietzsche, who criticised him and admired him at once.

See also

• Plato
• Aristotle
• Ancient Greek philosophy