Everyone has heard of Socrates. It does not matter who you are or what you do. It does not matter if you are interested in philosophy or ancient Greece. It does not matter if you know who he was or what he did. What matters is that almost everyone has heard of the name Socrates. And that is rightly so, for few men have had as much impact and influence on Western thought and the world of philosophy as the great Socrates has.
Now, for those of you who are genuinely curious as to who he was, what he did, or what he stood for, allow me to introduce him briefly.
Socrates was a Greek philosopher who is regarded as the founder of Western philosophy and the first moral philosopher of the ethical tradition of thought. He was born either in 470 or 469 BCE (people still argue on this point) in Athens.
His father, Sophroniscus, was a stoneworker, and his mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife. The family was rather affluent, and Socrates, like most wealthy Athenians of the time, received a good and basic education in reading and writing and some extra lessons in poetry, music, and gymnastics.
According to his most famous student Plato, Socrates served in the military during the Peloponnesian War and took an active part in the Battle of Potidaea, the Battle of Delium, and the Battle of Amphipolis.
Over the course of his life, Socrates slowly turned into the quintessential philosopher and thinker, both in his thinking as well as in his physical appearance. He stopped caring about material pleasures and is said to have neglected his appearance and personal hygiene by rarely bathing and walking everywhere barefoot in an old worn-out ragged coat, which was the only one he owned.
Because of his shabby and careless appearance, he was often described as ugly, with bulging eyes and a large belly. But he did not care. Such things were of no importance to him by then.
Most of what we know about Socrates comes from accounts written as dialogues by his students/disciples. These dialogues have given birth to the Socratic Dialogue literary genre, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a particular subject through questions and answers.
Among the various accounts, the most well-known and comprehensive ones belong to Plato, Socrates’ most famous student. So what do these dialogues of Plato entail?
In Plato’s texts, Socrates and his interlocutors are usually found to be examining and analyzing the various aspects of a particular issue, whether ethical, moral, or metaphysical in nature or some abstract meaning of one of the virtues or vices. In the end, they are usually unable to define what they thought they understood and were certain to be true.
It went something like this:
Socrates would begin the dialogue by asking his interlocutor, usually an expert on a particular subject, for a definition of the subject. As he would ask more questions, the expert’s answers would eventually contradict the first definition, arriving at the conclusion that the expert did not really know the definition in the first place. The expert may then come up with a new and different definition, which would again be questioned by Socrates. In such a manner they would hope to arrive at the truth, of course, never really arriving at it. More often than not they would reveal their own ignorance in the process. Since the expert’s definitions usually represent the mainstream opinion on a subject, the dialogue places doubt on common and popular opinions.
This form of dialogue of using questions and answers to explore an issue came to be known as the Socratic Method of questioning, or elenchus. This method is a form of argumentative dialogue between individuals that is based on asking and answering questions in order to stimulate critical thinking and bring out underlying presuppositions and ideas.
The inconclusive way in which most of these dialogues come to an end lends credibility to the fact that Socrates was known to openly proclaim his ignorance, often saying that the only thing he was truly aware of was his total ignorance. He considered this awareness of his ignorance to be the very first step in philosophizing.
Plato’s texts reveal how Socrates went about philosophizing in areas such as ethics, morals, metaphysics, rationalism, religion, God, etc. But then there also comes the doubt, the uncertainty, and the contradiction with which Plato’s dialogues are ridden, especially regarding the character of Socrates.
Plato’s portrayal of Socrates is certainly not straightforward or consistent or entirely trustworthy. Its complete authenticity has been up for debate for centuries now, and many contemporary scholars have pointed out the obvious inconsistencies in Socrates’ character between Plato’s earlier and later works. These inconsistencies have led to the general impression that, although Plato tried to accurately represent Socrates in his initial works, his later writings probably included many of his own views disguised as Socrates’ words.
Then comes the account of Xenophon, who talks about Socrates in four of his works: the Memorabilia, the Oeconomicus, the Symposium, and the Apology of Socrates to the Jury.
In Memorabilia, Xenophon mainly presents his own defense of Socrates (who was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and being against the Gods) through a collection of dialogues.
Oeconomicus primarily deals with agricultural issues and household management.
In Symposium, the themes addressed include virtue, wisdom, laughter, beauty, and desire, and in it, Socrates prides himself on his knowledge of the art of match-making.
In the Apology of Socrates, Xenophon describes the trial of Socrates, much like Plato’s Apology, although both works have substantial differences.
However, Xenophon’s account of Socrates’ life is not given the same weightage as that of Plato’s. This is mainly because Xenophon was a soldier (which is, sadly, an occupation always used to discredit his works), not a philosopher, who is often accused of not being able to conceptualize and articulate Socrates’ views and arguments. He has also been criticized for his naive representation of Socrates as an uninspiring philosopher.
Furthermore, Xenophon and Plato’s Socrates are more often than not substantially different from each other. Xenophon’s Socrates is not as ironic and humorous as Plato’s and is of the opinion that self-control (in every sphere of life including eating, drinking, etc.) is of great importance. Socrates’ character also lacks the I know that I know nothing characteristic in Xenophon’s descriptions.
Other ancient authors who wrote about Socrates were Aristophanes, Aeschines Socraticus, Aristippus, Crito, Euclid of Megara, Antisthenes, and several more. But perhaps the most important one would have to be Aristotle, who was a student at Plato’s Academy for twenty years.
Aristotle was not a contemporary of Socrates, and so he was able to write about him without any bias, something which neither Plato nor Xenophon could claim to do. Aristotle examined Socrates as a philosopher and did not write much about his life. Most of Aristotle’s writings are concerned with the early dialogues of Plato.
Taking into consideration so many sources of information on Socrates’ life and philosophy, many of which are inconsistent and contradictory to each other, one can hardly fail to see how the Socratic Problem came into existence. What is the Socratic Problem, you ask? Well, it means attempting to reconstruct an accurate image of Socrates, historically as well as philosophically, with the help of all these various sources of information.
By the time Socrates was in his mid-forties, he had become a fairly well-known figure among Athenians, especially the youth who regarded him as a wise philosopher. He was said to have married twice and had three sons. His views were considered controversial for the time, which was also what attracted the curiosity of Athenians toward him.
Many of his views regarding God and religion seemed to be against the usual practice of the time. His religious non-conformity and criticism challenged the views of the time and even of the coming centuries. For example, Socrates considered sacrifices to the Gods to be useless, especially when those sacrifices were made in the hope of receiving some kind of reward in return. Instead, he advocated that the practice of philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge were the most important ways of worshipping the Gods. He even openly rejected traditional forms of piety as being driven by self-interest and instead called on Athenians to self-examine themselves to seek religious experience.
Although these views were controversial enough, Socrates did not stop there. He held the view that the Gods were inherently wise and just, which was also against traditional religion at the time. He was of the opinion that goodness was independent of the Gods and that the Gods themselves had to be pious. This view was against traditional Greek theology. This theme is best addressed in Plato’s dialogue, Euthyphro, which basically asks the question: Does piety follow the good or the God? And this question gives rise to the Euthyphro Dilemma.
For holding such controversial views, Socrates was accused of impiety and called a provocateur atheist, although he was never known to have questioned the existence of God. His dialogues reveal that he not only believed in the Gods but also believed in divination, oracles, and other messages from the Gods, even though these beliefs are found to be inconsistent with his strict adherence to rationalism.
Anyway, with these views of his which he openly stated, the people of Athens accused him of corrupting the youth (who were his greatest admirers) and being against the Gods and eventually brought him to trial. Socrates’ trial is now one of the most famous and discussed events in the history of Western philosophy.
One driving factor in Socrates’ philosophy is knowledge. Socrates believed that a lot of vital and important things could be achieved and experienced through the pursuit of knowledge. When it came to virtue, he believed that all virtues are a form of knowledge, and, therefore, essentially one, as knowledge is united and hence all virtues are united as well.
It is due to this opinion of his that Socrates believed that the only reason a person was not good was that they lacked knowledge, which basically subscribes to the dictum no one errs willingly.
Like most views of Socrates, this one too has been debated for centuries, with scholars agreeing and disagreeing with each other. But most of them somewhat agree on one point, for Socrates, love was rational. In Plato’s dialogue, Lysis, Socrates discusses love, friendship, and other forms of intimate bonds. In it, while exploring parental love and how it manifests with respect to the freedom and boundaries that parents set for their children, Socrates comes to the conclusion that if Lysis (a boy who is one of the characters in the dialogue) was utterly useless, not even his parents may love him. This basically points to the view that we only love people who are in some way or the other useful to us.
Although many scholars believe that Socrates said this in humor, some suggest that Socrates held an egoistic view of love.
Now, when it comes to Socrates and politics, this is quite a tricky subject to address. No one really knows for certain if Socrates leaned more toward oligarchy or democracy or neither or both. Once again, much like everything else regarding Socrates, his views on politics are also somewhat shrouded in speculation. Therefore, it is hard, and maybe even impossible, for one to define his exact political philosophy.
His dialogues and discourses rarely make any mention of the political decisions of the time. And neither did he ever run for office or suggest any legislation. One could say that for Socrates, politics was more about shaping the moral landscape of the city and its people through philosophy rather than through electoral procedures. However, in some of his dialogues such as Crito and Apology, he talks about a mutually beneficial relationship between the city and its citizens.
Socrates was of the opinion that all citizens were essentially free and morally autonomous, but if they chose to remain within a city, they had to accept the city’s laws and authority over them, unless it were truly unjust. This made him an early advocate of civil disobedience. For instance, when the Thirty Tyrants (a pro-Spartan oligarchy that began ruling Athens in 404 BC after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War) ordered the arrest of Leon the Salaminian for execution, Socrates refused to serve the order. He was the only one, out of four others who were summoned, who abstained from serving the order and chose to risk retribution rather than take part in something he considered unjust.
In 399 BC, Socrates was charged with three crimes. One, for corrupting the youth. Two, for worshipping false gods. And three, for not worshipping the state religion. He defended himself unsuccessfully, was found guilty by a majority vote cast by a jury of hundreds of Athenians (apparently all men), and was given the death penalty. He spent his last day in prison with his friends and followers. They offered him a route to escape, it is said, but he refused. The next morning, in accordance with his sentence, he died after drinking poison hemlock.
Whether one agrees with Socrates’ views or not, his influence on the world of philosophy cannot be denied or ignored. Almost all philosophical schools after his death can be traced back to him either directly or indirectly. This includes Plato’s Academy, Aristotle’s Lyceum, the Cynics, and even the Stoics.
As all these schools differed on fundamental questions such as the purpose of life (for Socrates never gave them a definite or direct answer to such questions), they began interpreting his thoughts and views in different ways.
Platonism greatly borrowed from Socrates’ philosophy, particularly in its theory of knowledge and ethics. The moral doctrine of the Stoics focused on how to live a good life through virtue and wisdom, assigning virtue an important role in attaining happiness. They also applied the Socratic Method of questioning to avoid inconsistencies.
The influence of Socrates’ philosophy continued to extend and spread throughout the medieval period and modern times, reaching even the Islamic Middle East, where the works of Plato on Socrates were translated and studied by Muslim scholars who admired him for combining his ethics with his lifestyle. His philosophy also played a vital role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, especially within the humanist movement.