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The Life of Socrates
Socrates (469-399 BCE)
Ancient Greece and the City-State
• 5th Century BCE (500-400 BCE)
• Greeks spread out in various small
village-like, self-governing communities
called City-States.
• Geography, tribal division, and diversity
of economic and political interest
contributed to the development of the
City-State.
Athens: the cultural center of
the Peloponnesians
Thebes: the religious center
Sparta: the military center
Corinth: the commercial center
(city of luxury, wealth, prostitutes).
• 431: Outbreak of Peloponnesian war: Athenians
marked by disunity
• 415: Athenians lose power after failed attempt to
take over Sicily
• 411-410: Revolution of the 400 (led by sophist
Antiphon)
• 404: Athens is surrounded by Thebes, Spartans,
and Corinthians. After starvation and disease set
in, Athens surrenders. Spartans rule after this,
followed by the rule of the Thebes.
Two Types of Democracy
In Athens
• Prior to 403 BCE., aristocratic democracy
was the form of government.
• The best or privileged ruled. E.g., the
ruling class of four hundred in 412 and
the Thirty in 404 BCE. The Thirty were
overthrown, leading to a period of
restoration beginning in 403 BCE.
• The restoration period followed the
collapse of the Aristocratic democracy in
403 BCE.
• All individuals are equal; there are no class
distinctions.
• Egalitarian democracy persecuted
Socrates.
Socrates (469-399 BCE)
The Life of Socrates:
Major Sources
(Apology, Crito,
Phaedo, Symposium):
the Socrates of
Plato is profoundly
human and
profoundly brilliant,
a great analytical
mind.
(Memorabilia,
Symposium):
Socrates is the
ethical teacher.
(the Clouds, a
Greek comedy
written in Athens in
423 BC):
Socrates is
presented as a
SOPHIST.
Socrates is a
wise
metaphysician.
• Stone maker by trade
• Spent time in military as a foot soldier and
distinguished himself for bravery.
• Between the age of 35 and 40 he experienced a
religious conversion and was convinced that he
had a divine mission to teach virtue.
• 406 BCE Socrates was a member of the
Athenian Senate
• Responsible for educating Alcibiades and
Critias, right wing aristocrats and enemies of
the democracy.
• 404/403 BCE: Socrates refused to join with the
Ruling Thirty in the arrest and murder of Leon
of Salamis.
• 400/399 BCE: Socrates was brought to trial by
the leaders of the restored democracy.
• 399 BCE: Socrates was executed.
Sophism
th
(5 Century Greece)
• Sophists (hoi sophoi), the wise guys,
were typically lawyers and
politicians.
• They taught the skills of persuasion
or rhetoric to people for a fee.
A rejection of the traditional views of
the gods.
morality is not fixed; there is
no absolute distinction between right and
wrong.
success, money, and power - at
any price.
Ethical
values concerning man's relationship with his
fellow man.
• Egoism: Focus on the self and success: at any
price, get ahead.
Charges against Socrates
: (a) A
rejection of traditional beliefs about the gods
and (b) the introduction of a new theology in
its place.
: (a) Sophism (i.e., the
advancement of moral relativism) and (b)
corrupting the youth.
The Meno
• Dialogue composed by Plato
• Setting: Athens, about 402 BCE
Few years after the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian war
Shortly after the establishment of the restored democracy.
• Characters: Socrates, Meno (young aristocrat
from Thessaly), and Anytus (Athenian
politician and Meno’s host in Athens).
• Two years later Meno will be killed while
fighting as a mercenary in Persia.