Socrates is one of the most influential historical figures in Western civilization. Though he didn't write a word, he made such an impact on Athenian society that others were motivated to write about him. Writing about Socrates centuries after his death, scholars have described Socrates as as the creator of moral philosophy and a founder of the whole enterprise of western philosophy.
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The concept of the Socratic problem isn't a problem with Socrates himself, but rather a problem that arises from conflicting descriptions of him. Our knowledge of Socrates comes primarily from the writings of Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes. Plato and Xenophon were students of Socrates and Aristophanes a critic. The Socratic problem arises because of the contradictions among these sources.
For example, if Plato's description of Socrates is true, Aristophanes' conflicting version cannot be true. Or, as Kierkegaard wrote in his The Concept of Irony, if Xenophon's accounts of Socrates are true, the only reason the Athenians would have executed him was because he bored them to death. These discrepancies have created a challenge for scholars of Socrates.
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Socrates was born near Athens in 469 or 470 BCE. His father was a sculptor and his mother a mid-wife. Although it is difficult to determine precisely, some scholars have described Socrates' vocation as a stonemason. It is clear that he served as a hoplite, or an armored infantryman, in the Athenian military during the Peloponnesian War; he distinguished himself in the Battles of Delium and Potidaea. Some scholars claim that it was Socrates' military exploits that first brought him to the attention of his fellow Athenians.
As Plato wrote in his Apology, Socrates would later describe his role in Athenian society as a gadfly poking holes in the overblown egos and ideas of the Athenians who claimed wisdom and influence.
Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon certainly were contemporaries, although Plato never mentions Xenophon in his various dialogues and Xenophon mentions Plato only once in passing in his Memorabilia. Plato wrote about Socrates only after his death in 399 BCE while Aristophanes, a famous Athenian comic poet and playwright, attacked Socrates in his comedies while the philosopher was still alive.
These three authors provide us with our most complete knowledge of the life, thinking, and public activity of Socrates, with Plato the source of most of our knowledge. But, as philosopher Eric Voegelin stated, ''The Socrates who formed Plato was the Socrates as seen by Plato,'' an admonition relevant to Aristophanes and Xenophon as well. Because of these individual perspectives, their accounts are widely divergent.
In The Clouds, Aristophanes' comic play about intellectual fashions in Athens written in 423 BCE, Socrates is the headmaster of ''The Thinkery.'' Aristophanes presents Socrates as someone who churns out cynically disrespectful students who ridicule Athenian traditional values. Aristophanes places Socrates in a basket floating around with his head in the clouds above the rest of the cast in the play. In hilarious fashion, Aristophanes has Socrates teaching his students about what causes the sound a gnat makes, how far a flea can jump, how to avoid an honest debt, and how to argue about anything.
Kierkegaard thought that Aristophanes' depiction of Socrates might be the most accurate in the sense of how Athenians looked at the philosopher. However, Plato reports that, at his trial, Socrates labeled his accusers as "utterly untruthful," grouping the comic poet with other attackers who remained anonymous. Even at the time, it's clear that contradictory depictions of Socrates were rampant.
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Plato is the most famous student of Socrates. He wrote 35 dialogues, most of them about Socrates, and was present at the trial of Socrates, which he wrote about in the Apology. All of Plato's Socratic dialogues were written after Socrates' execution. The circumstances of the execution illuminated for Plato the utter failure of Athenian society to live up to its cultural and ethical values. Plato's purpose was to present Socrates as the only true statesman in Athens and as a philosopher - literally a ''lover of wisdom'' - whose sole purpose was to examine oneself to discover the ''right conduct of life.''
Xenophon, who was about the same age as Plato, was also a student of Socrates. Though he is best known as a historian, he chronicled several Socratic dialogues and, like Plato, wrote an account of his trial. He portrayed Socrates as a teacher of virtue, a conventional religious thinker, and a dispenser of valuable and practical advice. Xenophon's purpose was to show that Socrates was no threat to Athenian society and that he was unjustly accused, tried, and convicted.
Philosophy - from the Greek philosophia - means love of wisdom. As a philosopher, Socrates claimed no doctrines and espoused no theories. He did not have what today we call a philosophy of life. Socrates stated that the only reason he could be thought as wise was because he knew he was ignorant while others, though just as ignorant as he, believed they were wise. If Socrates could be said to have a philosophy, it would be to question every opinion to see if it holds up to the light of reason.
In Plato's dialogues, Socrates leads discussions about ideas of god, good and evil, beauty, justice and virtue. But he is always the questioner, forcing people to examine what they think.
As an example, in the Republic, Plato's dialogue that focused upon justice and injustice, Plato's brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are attempting to define what a good action is. Is it a legal one? Is it what the stronger can simply get away with? The two men are prodded by Socrates to defend their definitions or to modify them. Socrates himself offers no answers or solutions. If human beings act to accomplish something they consider good, why do these actions sometimes end in evil consequences? In the end, the group concludes that the part of the soul that desires overwhelms the part that is rational, leading to the mistaken conclusion that the object of desire is ''good.''
Aristotle, a student of Plato, elaborated on Socrates' question of ''weakness of the will'' in his Nicomachean Ethics. He stated that although all human begins desire to do good, they still commit evil acts while thinking they are doing something good. So evil acts, for Aristotle, are the result of ignorance about the goal or method of action. This ethical question has since become one of the most defining considerations in Western philosophy and clearly demonstrates Socrates' lasting impact on philosophical thought.
The Socratic method is the name for the series of questioning and answering that dominates depictions of Socrates, particularly in Plato's dialogues. In his defense at trial, Socrates explains that he was flummoxed by the Oracle at Delphi declaring that Socrates was the wisest in Athens, as he knew he wasn't. So he began questioning those leading figures in Athens who either claimed or were thought to possess knowledge about what is good, what is beautiful, or what is just. Plato's Socratic dialogues are all examples of this method of questioning, which sought to distinguish knowledge from mere opinion.
The purpose of the Socratic method was not for Socrates to give answers, as he never claimed to know the truth. Instead, the goal was to ask questions to lead a partner, through dialogue, to a deeper understanding of their beliefs or to reach the logical end of the line of questions. First, a definition is given in response to a question. Further questions related to the answer lead to either a recognition of error, a deeper understanding, or a new formulation of the issue that would lead to further questioning. The German philosopher Hegel later described this method as a thesis, an antithesis, and finally a synthesis.
Socrates was found guilty in 399 BCE of corrupting the youth of Athens, of impiety, and of introducing new, purportedly false gods. He was sentenced to be executed and died by drinking hemlock, a poisonous weed similar to wild carrots. Death comes from the interruption of nerve impulses to the muscles.
Socrates was executed by the Athenian democracy. He was tried in the dikasteria, the people's court comprised of 501 jurors. The sole criterion for membership was to be a male citizen of Athens over the age of thirty. Socrates was accused by Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon of impiety, introducing new gods into Athens, and corrupting the youth of Athens. They demanded the death penalty.
Socrates was found guilty by majority vote. In Plato's account, Socrates made three speeches before the dikasteria. In the first speech, he presented his defense to the charges. After the finding of guilt, Athenian legal tradition gave the accused the opportunity to suggest an alternative punishment. In cases where the sentence was death, many times the accused would offer a sentence such as exile from Athens. In his second speech, Socrates asked the jury how they expected him to propose exile rather than death since he had been nurtured by Athens, had fought for Athens, and everything dear to him was in Athens. Socrates then suggested that Athens pay him a pension to keep doing the same thing that had brought him into court in the first place.
Instead, the Court voted to execute him. His third speech contained the idea that history would remember Socrates much more than it would the court.
After his trial, Socrates was imprisoned. Plato's dialogues Crito and Phaedo describe the days between the verdict and when the sentence would be carried out. Plato had several wealthy friends who intended to help Socrates escape, and one of them, Crito, came to Athens for the express purpose of bribing the prison guards to let Socrates escape. Socrates refused, telling his devoted followers that he would make a mockery of his entire life if he ran away from the consequences of how he lived that life. So, surrounded by his friends, Socrates willingly drank the hemlock and died.
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Socrates wrote no books. He wasn't a famous politician or general. Yet because of how he lived his life and how he chose to accept his death, he inspired Plato to write his dialogues, which brought Socrates' method of differentiating real knowledge from mere opinion and belief into artistic reality.
Plato's writings about Socrates are the foundation of western philosophy, as they are meditations on how the questioning of Socrates dug into the concepts that concern human beings in all times and places. How did the universe begin? Why are things the way they are? What is the purpose of our existence? How do we know what is good? How do we actualize justice? The questions are eternal and, for Socrates, more important than the answers. For him, the quest for truth through dialogue with fellow lovers of wisdom is the essence of life itself.
Socrates was a philosopher in ancient Athens who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of western philosophy. The influence of his ideas and of his methods has reached all fields of thought throughout history.
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According to Socrates, philosophy is the practice of dying. Death was nothing to be feared. He accepted death rather than betraying the way he lived his life.
Socrates never advocated any doctrine. Socrates believed that the truth quest, or the process of questioning our opinions on important matters to see if they are knowledge or opinion, was the best way for human beings to live.
The statement that ''the unexamined life is not worth living'' is one that Socrates is most remembered for. This represents his belief that the examination of one's thoughts, opinions, and senses is far more important than knowing the right answer.
Socrates exemplified the Greek sense of "philosopher" as "lover of wisdom." He spent his life deeply examining established systems of thought and societal assumptions, setting the tone for the methods of inquiry into complex ideas used throughout history.
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