Difference between revisions of "Socrates"

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'''Socrates(469-399 B.C.)'''
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{{infobox officeholder
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|name=Socrates
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|image=Socrates.jpg
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|birth_date=c. 470 BC
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|birth_place=Deme Alopece, Athens
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|death_date=c. February-July 399 BC (aged c. 71)
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|death_place=Athens
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}}
  
  
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'''Socrates''', (470 BC - February-July 399 BC) the "gadfly of [[Athens]]," was an ancient [[Greeks|Greek]] philosopher, who lived between approximately 470 and 399 BC. He is best known for his method of argument (''elenchus'', or the Socratic Method), which poses questions that may expose logical errors underlying an opponent's argument, though he usually stated that his purpose was not to argue but to pursue the truth in alliance with his opponent. Socrates had served in the army in his youth, like all Greek men of his time. To modern readers he is most familiar as a character in many books by his disciple [[Plato]] or his contemporary [[Xenophon]]. If Socrates wrote any books himself they are lost.  Eventually the courts of [[Athens]] found him guilty on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth, and sentenced him to drink hemlock, a poison that took his life. Socrates had an opportunity to escape from prison, but declined to do so.<ref>http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/socratesbio.html</ref>
  
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In his use of critical reasoning, by his unwavering commitment to truth, and through the vivid example of his own life, fifth-century Athenian Socrates set the standard for all subsequent Western philosophy. Since he left no literary legacy of his own, we are dependent upon contemporary writers like Aristophanes and Xenophon for our information about his life and work. As a pupil of Archelaus during his youth, Socrates showed a great deal of interest in the scientific theories of Anaxagoras, but he later abandoned inquiries into the physical world for a dedicated investigation of the development of moral character. Having served with some distinction as a soldier at Delium and Amphipolis during the Peloponnesian War, Socrates dabbled in the political turmoil that consumed Athens after the War, then retired from active life to work as a stonemason and to raise his children with his wife, Xanthippe. After inheriting a modest fortune from his father, the sculptor Sophroniscus, Socrates used his marginal financial independence as an opportunity to give full-time attention to inventing the practice of philosophical dialogue.
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Socrates was what we call a "gadfly" today, persistently questioning and criticizing others in authority. Plato portrayed Socrates as a fly that would awaken the sleeping horse of Athens by repeatedly biting it, and several modern translations of Plato's [[Apology]] even use the term "gadfly".
  
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For the rest of his life, Socrates devoted himself to free-wheeling discussion with the aristocratic young citizens of Athens, insistently questioning their unwarranted confidence in the truth of popular opinions, even though he often offered them no clear alternative teaching. Unlike the professional Sophists of the time, Socrates pointedly declined to accept payment for his work with students, but despite (or, perhaps, because) of this lofty disdain for material success, many of them were fanatically loyal to him. Their parents, however, were often displeased with his influence on their offspring, and his earlier association with opponents of the democratic regime had already made him a controversial political figure. Death of SocratesAlthough the amnesty of 405 forestalled direct prosecution for his political activities, an Athenian jury found other charges—corrupting the youth and interfering with the religion of the city—upon which to convict Socrates, and they sentenced him to death in 399 B.C. Accepting this outcome with remarkable grace, Socrates drank hemlock and died in the company of his friends and disciples.
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Some feel that [[Jesus]] was referring to Socrates's death by drinking a cup of poison when Jesus said on the night of [[The Passion]], “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”<ref>Luke 22:42 ([[ESV]])</ref>
  
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Our best sources of information about Socrates's philosophical views are the early dialogues of his student Plato, who attempted there to provide a faithful picture of the methods and teachings of the master. (Although Socrates also appears as a character in the later dialogues of Plato, these writings more often express philosophical positions Plato himself developed long after Socrates's death.) In the Socratic dialogues, his extended conversations with students, statesmen, and friends invariably aim at understanding and achieving virtue  through the careful application of a dialectical method that employs critical inquiry to undermine the plausibility of widely-held doctrines. Destroying the illusion that we already comprehend the world perfectly and honestly accepting the fact of our own ignorance, Socrates believed, are vital steps toward our acquisition of genuine knowledge, by discovering universal definitions of the key concepts governing human life.
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==Time line==
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His elementary school education included literature, music and gymnastics. He then studied Philosophy and Public Speaking. He was a sculptor like his father. His statue, ''The Three Graces'', was at the entrance to the Acropolis for over six hundred years. He had no formal students. A veteran of the Peloponnesian war, he began philosophical conversations and debates with people in restaurants and stores. His teachings included that ignorance is the cause of all vice, and he emphasized being rational and questioning one’s own thoughts and inner voice. He was condemned by a small majority rather than unanimously. His defense was that what he did wasn’t bad enough to receive death, but might be worth a small fine.<ref>based on Funk & Wagnals New Encyclopedia. ''Socrates.'' F & W’s bibliography for their article on Socrates includes: Guthrie, W.K.C. ''A History of Greek Philosophy.'' 1981. Cambridge. (about the course of Greek philosophy), and Montuori, Maria. ''Socrates: Philosophy of a Myth.'' Humanities. 1981. (about Socratic mythology.) and other books.</ref>
  
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Interacting with an arrogantly confident young man in Euqufrwn (Euthyphro), for example, Socrates systematically refutes the superficial notion of piety (moral rectitude) as doing whatever is pleasing to the gods. Efforts to define morality by reference to any external authority, he argued, inevitably founder in a significant logical dilemma about the origin of the good. Plato's Apologhma (Apology) is an account of Socrates's (unsuccessful) speech in his own defense before the Athenian jury; it includes a detailed description of the motives and goals of philosophical activity as he practiced it, together with a passionate declaration of its value for life. The Kritwn (Crito) reports that during Socrates's imprisonment he responded to friendly efforts to secure his escape by seriously debating whether or not it would be right for him to do so. He concludes to the contrary that an individual citizen—even when the victim of unjust treatment—can never be justified in refusing to obey the laws of the state.
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==The question of the historical Socrates==
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[[File:Socrates statue.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Socrates ]]
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The major problem in studying the thought of Socrates is that we have to rely on the writings and reports of others since Socrates himself wrote nothing. There is also no historical record of anybody named Socrates ever existing; a vast majority of what we know of the man comes from his pupils, especially [[Plato]], who wrote more about Socrates than anybody else.
  
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The Socrates of the Menwn (Meno) tries to determine whether or not virtue can be taught, and this naturally leads to a careful investigation of the nature of virtue itself. Although his direct answer is that virtue is unteachable, Socrates does propose the doctrine of recollection to explain why we nevertheless are in possession of significant knowledge about such matters. Most remarkably, Socrates argues here that knowledge and virtue are so closely related that no human agent ever knowingly does evil: we all invariably do what we believe to be best. Improper conduct, then, can only be a product of our ignorance rather than a symptom of weakness of the will {Gk. akrasia [akrásia]}. The same view is also defended in the PrwtagoraV (Protagoras), along with the belief that all of the virtues must be cultivated together.  
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[[Aristotle]] examines Socrates in his ''Metaphysics'', and [[Xenophon]] provides some additional information. But [[Plato]], who was Socrates' pupil, is our principal source of information. He (Plato) wrote numerous dialogues in which Socrates figures either as the main speaker or as a secondary character. The problem is separating out from these dialogues what is Socrates and what is Plato. And the chief question is the origin of Plato's "Forms Theory".
  
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[[Frederick Copleston|Coopleston]], in his ''History of Philosophy'', takes the traditional view, largely accepting Aristotle who stated that Socrates did not "separate" the Forms. On this view, although the historical Socrates is presented, especially in the early dialogues, the fully developed theory of Plato's is an elaboration or development of Socrates' views and, especially in his later writings, Plato has used the character of Socrates to expound these views.
  
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There are two aspects of the historic Socrates' life that can be reasonably assumed to be true because they appear to be consistent among most accounts: that he was a critic of [[Athenian democracy]] and that he was executed by the state because of it.
  
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==Some famous Socrates quotes<ref>http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Socrates</ref>==
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*The unexamined life is not worth living.
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*Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
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*Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
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*Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.
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*I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
  
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Source:
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== See also ==
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http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/socr.htm
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*[[Xantippe]]
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*[[Euthyphro]]
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*[[Apology (Plato)]]
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*[[Phaedo]]
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== References ==
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<references/>
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Plato, Christopher Gill, ''The Symposium''. London: Penguin Books, 1999
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[[Category:Ancient Greek Philosophers]]

Latest revision as of 05:20, August 10, 2023

Socrates

Born c. 470 BC
Deme Alopece, Athens
Died c. February-July 399 BC (aged c. 71)
Athens


Socrates, (470 BC - February-July 399 BC) the "gadfly of Athens," was an ancient Greek philosopher, who lived between approximately 470 and 399 BC. He is best known for his method of argument (elenchus, or the Socratic Method), which poses questions that may expose logical errors underlying an opponent's argument, though he usually stated that his purpose was not to argue but to pursue the truth in alliance with his opponent. Socrates had served in the army in his youth, like all Greek men of his time. To modern readers he is most familiar as a character in many books by his disciple Plato or his contemporary Xenophon. If Socrates wrote any books himself they are lost. Eventually the courts of Athens found him guilty on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth, and sentenced him to drink hemlock, a poison that took his life. Socrates had an opportunity to escape from prison, but declined to do so.[1]

Socrates was what we call a "gadfly" today, persistently questioning and criticizing others in authority. Plato portrayed Socrates as a fly that would awaken the sleeping horse of Athens by repeatedly biting it, and several modern translations of Plato's Apology even use the term "gadfly".

Some feel that Jesus was referring to Socrates's death by drinking a cup of poison when Jesus said on the night of The Passion, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”[2]

Time line

His elementary school education included literature, music and gymnastics. He then studied Philosophy and Public Speaking. He was a sculptor like his father. His statue, The Three Graces, was at the entrance to the Acropolis for over six hundred years. He had no formal students. A veteran of the Peloponnesian war, he began philosophical conversations and debates with people in restaurants and stores. His teachings included that ignorance is the cause of all vice, and he emphasized being rational and questioning one’s own thoughts and inner voice. He was condemned by a small majority rather than unanimously. His defense was that what he did wasn’t bad enough to receive death, but might be worth a small fine.[3]

The question of the historical Socrates

Socrates

The major problem in studying the thought of Socrates is that we have to rely on the writings and reports of others since Socrates himself wrote nothing. There is also no historical record of anybody named Socrates ever existing; a vast majority of what we know of the man comes from his pupils, especially Plato, who wrote more about Socrates than anybody else.

Aristotle examines Socrates in his Metaphysics, and Xenophon provides some additional information. But Plato, who was Socrates' pupil, is our principal source of information. He (Plato) wrote numerous dialogues in which Socrates figures either as the main speaker or as a secondary character. The problem is separating out from these dialogues what is Socrates and what is Plato. And the chief question is the origin of Plato's "Forms Theory".

Coopleston, in his History of Philosophy, takes the traditional view, largely accepting Aristotle who stated that Socrates did not "separate" the Forms. On this view, although the historical Socrates is presented, especially in the early dialogues, the fully developed theory of Plato's is an elaboration or development of Socrates' views and, especially in his later writings, Plato has used the character of Socrates to expound these views.

There are two aspects of the historic Socrates' life that can be reasonably assumed to be true because they appear to be consistent among most accounts: that he was a critic of Athenian democracy and that he was executed by the state because of it.

Some famous Socrates quotes[4]

  • The unexamined life is not worth living.
  • Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
  • Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
  • Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.
  • I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/socratesbio.html
  2. ↑ Luke 22:42 (ESV)
  3. ↑ based on Funk & Wagnals New Encyclopedia. Socrates. F & W’s bibliography for their article on Socrates includes: Guthrie, W.K.C. A History of Greek Philosophy. 1981. Cambridge. (about the course of Greek philosophy), and Montuori, Maria. Socrates: Philosophy of a Myth. Humanities. 1981. (about Socratic mythology.) and other books.
  4. ↑ http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Socrates

Plato, Christopher Gill, The Symposium. London: Penguin Books, 1999

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