 Socrates
(470?-399? BC), Greek philosopher, who profoundly affected Western
philosophy through his influence on Plato. Born in Athens, the son of Sophroniscus,
a sculptor, and Phaenarete, a midwife, he received the regular elementary
education in literature, music, and gymnastics. Later he familiarized himself
with the rhetoric and dialectics of the Sophists, the speculations of the
Ionian philosophers, and the general culture of Periclean Athens. Initially,
Socrates followed the craft of his father; according to a former tradition,
he executed a statue group of the three Graces, which stood at the entrance
to the Acropolis until the 2nd century AD. In the Peloponnesian War with
Sparta he served as an infantryman with conspicuous bravery at the battles
of Potidaea in 432-430 BC, Delium in 424 BC, and Amphipolis in 422 BC.
Socrates believed in the superiority of argument over writing and therefore
spent the greater part of his mature life in the marketplace and public
places of Athens, engaging in dialogue and argument with anyone who would
listen or who would submit to interrogation. Socrates was reportedly unattractive
in appearance and short of stature but was also extremely hardy and self-controlled.
He enjoyed life immensely and achieved social popularity because of his
ready wit and a keen sense of humor that was completely devoid of satire
or cynicism.
Attitude Toward Politics Socrates was obedient to the laws of Athens, but he generally steered clear of politics, restrained by what he believed to be divine warning. He believed that he had received a call to pursue philosophy and could serve his country best by devoting himself to teaching, and by persuading the Athenians to engage in self-examination and in tending to their souls. He wrote no books and established no regular school of philosophy. All that is known with certainty about his personality and his way of thinking is derived from the works of two of his distinguished scholars: Plato, who at times ascribed his own views to his master, and the historian Xenophon, a prosaic writer who probably failed to understand many of Socrates's doctrines. Plato portrayed Socrates as hiding behind an ironical profession of ignorance, known as Socratic irony, and possessing a mental acuity and resourcefulness that enabled him to penetrate arguments with great facility. Teachings Socrates's contribution to philosophy was essentially ethical in character.
Belief in a purely objective understanding of such concepts as justice,
love, and virtue, and the self-knowledge that he inculcated, were the basis
of his teachings. He believed that all vice is the result of ignorance,
and that no person is willingly bad; correspondingly, virtue is knowledge,
and those who know the right will act rightly. His logic placed particular
emphasis on rational argument and the quest for general definitions, as
evidenced in the writings of his younger contemporary and pupil, Plato,
and of Plato's pupil, Aristotle. Through the writings of these philosophers,
Socrates profoundly affected the entire subsequent course of Western speculative
thought.
The Trial Although a patriot and a man of deep religious conviction, Socrates
was nonetheless regarded with suspicion by many of his contemporaries,
who disliked his attitude toward the Athenian state and the established
religion. He was charged in 399 BC with neglecting the gods of the state
and introducing new divinities, a reference to the daemonion, or mystical
inner voice, to which Socrates often referred. He was also charged with
corrupting the morals of the young, leading them away from the principles
of democracy; and he was wrongly identified with the Sophists, possibly
because he had been ridiculed by the comic poet Aristophanes in his play
The Clouds as the master of a "thinking-shop" where young men were taught
to make the worse reason appear the better reason.
"Socrates," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 97 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. |