Socrates

Socrates

(469 – 399 BC)

Greek philosopher from Athens, who is often credited as the founder of the Western philosophical tradition. He was one of the first philosophers to occupy himself with morality and ethics. Not much is known is known about his life, though he was undoubtedly a citizen of Athens, who taught philosophy to the young (but not for money).

He didn’t leave behind any written works, and everything that we know about him and his ideas was written down by his students, particularly Plato and Xenophon. This is the so-called Socratic problem, namely, the difficulty historians have in determining facts about his life or his philosophical ideas and distinguishing those from his pupils.

One of his most most famous sayings is “The unexamined life is not worth living” and it encapsulate perfectly his main philosophical aim – constant questioning of everything in order to get to the truth of things (or at least, to determine which parts of knowledge have some substantial base, and which are based on inconsistencies or fallacies).

Socrates was known for hanging out at the marketplace and on the streets, questioning anyone he came about, about what they know, and putting their views to scrutiny – a line of inquiry and questioning known as the Socratic method, which is meant to stimulate critical thinking and draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions.

Ironically, Socrates proclaimed that he knows nothing – and according to the oracle of Delphi, this made him the wisest of all actually. That is, at least he knew that he doesn’t know much, as opposed to others who claimed to know things, only for Socrates to show that they in fact don’t. His own proclamation of ignorance implies that the realisation of the limits of our knowing is the first (and most important) step in doing philosophy.

Plato’s dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates and the Socratic method. In them, Plato recounts Socrates’s conversations and method of questioning. Most of the time, the conversations he had with people went something like this:

  1. Socrates asks a (seemingly simple) question such as ‘What is love?’, or ‘What is justice?’, or ‘What is truth?’. The other person mightily says they know, and Socrates becomes excited that he has found someone who does!
  2. They start talking about it and Socrates keeps asking follow-up questions… until he finds a flaw in the argument and definitions of his companion. He keeps going until he slowly unravels everything the other person said and shows them that they actually don’t know that much at all.
  3. They both agree they know nothing on the issue and embark on the quest of finding the truth. They keep talking and talking, uncovering different aspects of the question. However, none of the dialogues end conclusively, and no definitive answer is found

Unfortunately, Socrates managed to offend a lot of important and powerful figures in Athens (he made them feel stupid). His enemies conspired against him and managed to indite him for teaching falsehoods and corrupting the youth (the trial and Socrates’s speech are recorded in Plato’s Apology). The jury condemned him to death and he spent his last day in prison, philosophizing with his friends. Even though they offered to help him escape, and apparently even bribed the guards to let him go during the night, he refused to break the law and avoid his punishment. He was over 70 and died by drinking hemlock poison.

Socrates was very influential for later philosophers of antiquity and particularly medieval and Islamic scholars. His work was rediscovered during the Renaissance and played an important role in the humanist movement and continues to do so up until the modern era and today.