Download Socrates - Social Studies 212

Socrates
Encyclopedia of World Biography, December 12, 1998
Born: 470? BC in Athens, Greece
Died: 399? BC in Athens, Greece
Nationality: Greek
Occupation: Philosopher
The Greek philosopher and logician Socrates (469-399 BC) was an important formative influence on Plato
and had a profound effect on ancient philosophy.
Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, an Athenian stone mason and sculptor. He learned
his father's craft and apparently practiced it for many years before devoting his time almost
completely to intellectual interests. Details of his early life are scanty, although he appears to
have had no more than an ordinary Greek education. He did, however, take a keen interest in
the works of the natural philosophers, and Plato (Parmenides, 127C) records the fact that Socrates met
Zeno of Elea and Parmenides on their trip to Athens, which probably took place about 450 BC Socrates
wrote nothing; therefore evidence for his life and activities must come from the writings of Plato and
Xenophon. It is likely that neither of these presents a completely accurate picture of him, but Plato's
Apology, Crito, Phaedo, and Symposium contain details which must be close to fact.
From the Apology we learn that Socrates was well known around Athens, that uncritical thinkers linked him
with the rest of the Sophists, that he fought in at least three military campaigns for the city, and that he
attracted to his circle large numbers of young men who delighted in seeing their pretentious elders refuted
by Socrates. His notoriety in Athens was sufficient for the Athenian comic poet Aristophanes to lampoon
him in The Clouds, although the Socrates who appears there bears little resemblance to the dialectician in
Plato's writings. His endurance and prowess in military campaigns are attested by Alcibiades in the
Symposium. He tells of Socrates's valor in battle, which allowed Alcibiades to escape when he was in a
perilous situation. He also recounts an incident which reveals Socrates's habit of falling into a kind of
trance while thinking. One morning Socrates wandered a short distance off from the other men to
concentrate on a problem. By noon a small crowd had gathered, and by evening a group had come with
their bedding to spend the night watching him. At the break of day, he offered up a prayer to the sun and
went about his usual activities.
In addition to these anecdotes about Socrates's peculiar character, the Symposium provides details
regarding his physical appearance. He was short and Silenus-like, quite the opposite of what was
considered graceful and beautiful in the Athens of his time. He was also poor and had only the barest
necessities of life. He was not ascetic, however, for he accepted the lavish hospitality of the wealthy on
occasion (Agathon, the successful tragic poet, was host to the illustrious group in the Symposium) and
proved himself capable of besting the others not only at their esoteric and sophistic sport of making
impromptu speeches on the god Eros but also in holding his wine. Socrates's physical ugliness was no bar
to his appeal. Alcibiades asserts in the same dialogue that Socrates made him feel deep shame and
humiliation over his failure to live up to the high standards of justice and truth. He had this same effect on
countless others.
His Thought
There was a strong religious side to Socrates's character and thought which constantly revealed itself in
spite of his penchant for exposing the ridiculous conclusions to which uncritical acceptance of the ancient
myths might lead. His words and actions in the Apology, Crito, Phaedo, and Symposium reveal a deep
reverence for Athenian religious customs and a sincere regard for divinity. Indeed, it was a divine voice
which Socrates claimed to hear within himself on important occasions in his life. It was not a voice which
gave him positive instructions, but instead warned him when he was about to go astray. He recounts, in
his defense before the Athenian court, the story of his friend Chaerephon, who was told by the Delphic
Oracle that Socrates was the wisest of men. That statement puzzled Socrates, he says, for no one was
more aware of the extent of his own ignorance than he himself, but he determined to see the truth of the
god's words. After questioning those who had a reputation for wisdom and who considered themselves,
wise, he concluded that he was wiser than they because he could recognize his ignorance while they, who
were equally ignorant, thought themselves wise. He thus confirmed the truth of the god's statement.
Socrates was famous for his method of argumentation. His "irony" was an important part of that method
and surely helped account for the appeal which he had for the young and the disfavor in which he was
held by many Athenians. An example comes from the Apology. Meletus had accused Socrates of
corrupting the youth. Socrates begins by asking if Meletus considers the improvement of youth important.
He replies that he does, whereupon Socrates asks who is capable of improving the young. The laws, says
Meletus, and Socrates asks him to name a person who knows the laws. Meletus responds that the judges
there present know the laws, whereupon Socrates asks if all who are present are able to instruct and
improve youth or whether only a few can. Meletus replies that all of them are capable of such a task, which
forces Meletus to confess that other groups of Athenians, such as the Senate and the Assembly, and
indeed all Athenians are capable of instructing and improving the youth. All except Socrates, that is.
Socrates then starts a parallel set of questions regarding the instruction and improvement of horses and
other animals. Is it true that all men are capable of training horses, or only those men with special
qualifications and experience? Meletus, realizing the absurdity of his position, does not answer, but
Socrates answers for him and asserts that if he does not care enough about the youth of Athens to have
given adequate thought to who might instruct and improve them, he has no right to accuse Socrates of
corrupting them.
Thus the Socratic method of argumentation begins with commonplace questions which lead the opponent
to believe that the questioner is a simpleton, but ends in a complete reversal. It is a method not calculated
to win friends, especially when used in public.
Socrates's true contributions to the development of ancient thought are difficult to assess. Plato's
dialogues, although they are our single most important source, are not entirely reliable because Socrates
is used, especially in the later dialogues, merely as a mouthpiece. It is probable, however, that the
Socrates we find in the Apology Crito, and a few of the other early dialogues represents a fair
approximation of the man and his thinking. Thus his chief contributions lie not in the construction of an
elaborate system but in clearing away the false common beliefs and in leading men to an awareness of
their own ignorance, from which position they may begin to discover the truth. Socrates's contribution,
then, was primarily the negative one of exposing fallacies, but equally important was the magnetism of his
personality and the effect which he had on the people he met. It was his unique combination of dialectical
skill and magnetic attractiveness to the youth of Athens which gave his opponents their opportunity to
bring him to trial in 399 B.C.
His Death
Meletus, Lycon, and Anytus charged Socrates with impiety and with corrupting the youth of the city. Since
prosecution and defense speeches were made by the principals in Athenian legal practice, Socrates spoke
in his own behalf. It is uncertain if the charges were the result of his associations with the Thirty or resulted
from personal pique. Callias, Plato's uncle, had been the leader of the unpopular Thirty, but it is difficult to
imagine that Socrates could have been considered a collaborator when in fact he risked death by refusing
to be implicated in their crimes. He had, however, made a great number of enemies for himself over the
years through his self-appointed role as the "gadfly" of Athens, and it is probable that popular
misunderstanding and animosity toward his activities helped lead to his conviction. His defense speech
was not in the least conciliatory. After taking up the charges and showing how they were false, he
proposed that the city should honor him as it did Olympic victors. He was convicted and sentenced to
death. Plato's Crito tells of Crito's attempts to persuade Socrates to flee the prison (Crito had bribed the
jailer, as was customary), but Socrates, in an allegorical dialogue between himself and the Laws of
Athens, reveals his devotion to the city and his obligation to obey its decrees even if they lead to his death.
In the Phaedo, Plato recounts Socrates's discussion of the immortality of the soul; and at the end of that
dialogue, one of the most moving and dramatic scenes in ancient literature, Socrates takes the hemlock
prepared for him while his friends sit helplessly by. He died reminding Crito that he owes a cock to
Aesculapius.
Socrates was the most colorful figure in the history of ancient philosophy. His fame was widespread in his
own time, and his name soon became a household word although he professed no extraordinary wisdom,
constructed no philosophical system, established no school, and founded no sect. His influence on the
course of ancient philosophy, through Plato, the Cynics, and less directly, Aristotle, is incalculable.
Further Readings
Sources for Socrates's life are the dialogues of Plato, especially the Apology, Crito, Phaedo, and
Alcibiades's speech in the Symposium, and Xenophon's Memorabilia, all of which are available in a
variety of editions and translations. A comprehensive and major study of Socrates's thought is Norman
Gulley, The Philosophy of Socrates (1968). See also Eduard Zeller, Socrates and the Socratic Schools
(1885; 3d rev. ed. 1962); A. E. Taylor, Socrates (1933); and Anton-Hermann Chroust, Socrates: Man
and Myth (1957).
A dramatic version of Socrates's accusation, self-defense, imprisonment, and death is rendered in
simplified, colloquial English by I. A. Richards in Why So Socrates? A Dramatic Version of Plato's
Dialogues Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo (1964). Critical treatment of Socrates and his place in the
development of ancient thought is in Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy (trans.
1890; 13th ed. revised by Wilhelm Nestle, 1931); John Burnet, Greek Philosophy (1914); and Wilhelm
Windelband, History of Ancient Philosophy, translated by Herbert E. Cushman (1956).
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2013 Gale, Cengage Learning.
Source Citation
"Socrates." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. World History In
Context. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
Document URL
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?fail
OverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&
amp;mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disa
bleHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_withi
n_results=&zid=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&do
cumentId=GALE%7CK1631006142&userGroupName=leyden&jsid=7a60d1c5cb8af
09dd8
3d4d00076e6817
Gale Document Number: GALE|K1631006142