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Socrates (470 BC)
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To let no day pass without discussing goodness and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and
examining both myself and others is really the very best thing that a man can do, and life without this sort of
examination is not worth living.
 The unexamined life is not worth living.
 A man who lived his philosophy
Seen by many as a martyr for the truth
 Virtue is knowledge
To live in a ‘good’ way, one must first know exactly what defines being ‘good’
Socrates claimed that people do wrong only because they do not understand that what they are doing is wrong
 Philosophy had an inward looking focus
– wished to discover a firm basis for moral truths
 Athenian
 Found almost daily in Athens’ market place, arguing, discussing and challenging people’s views, chiefly on moral
or ethical issues
 Likened to a stingray, not only because of his appearance, but because of the numbing effect he had on people with
whom he talked
 Likened to a stinging horsefly, challeging his fellow citizens to a greater awareness of moral values
 Likened to an intellectual midwife, encouraging them to draw out of their own minds the truth they were seeking
 Endured considerable hardship as a hoplite (middle-class foot soldier) and earned a reputation for bravery (saved
the life of Alcibiades, an Athenian general)
The Oracle at Delphi
 Socrates concluded that he was wiser than all the other politicians, poets and skilled craftsmen because he accepted
his ignorance and tried to ‘cure’ it by seeking for true knowledge
 He considered his mission as primarily religious or divine
Political Involvement
 Mistrustful of democracy – reliance on ‘unskilled’ participants
 Refused to endorse a decision which condemned the commanders from the naval battle of Arginusae to death (for
failure to pick up survivors after a storm)
– argued that Athenian law made it clear each accused should be judged individually
 Refused to obey the orders of the thirty tyrants (pro-Spartan oligarchy imposed on Athens at the end of the
Peloponnesian War)
 Socrates’ friendship with Alcibiades (widely mistrusted general who once fought for the Spartans and had twice
been expelled by the Athenian assembly) and Critias (one of the thirty tyrants) increased the ill feeling against him
 Socrates was also identified as a sophist
The Euthyphro: ‘What is holiness?’
 Socrates encounters Euthyphro, who has gained the reputation of being a seer and something of a religious expert
 Euthyphro’s father has allowed one of his workers to die without proper care and attention
 Euthyphro is charging his father for manslaughter
 Socrates faces a charge of lacking holiness (worshipping false gods) and is unclear what holiness is
 He asks Euthyphro to teach him what is holy, and what is not
Socratic Method
 Socrates invities Euthyphro to put forward definitions of holiness
 It is clear that Socrates wants a definition of holiness which will be universally true
– to all people, at all times, regardless of race, creed or culture
 A ‘template’ against which all actions can be measured
Elenchus
 Examining and refuting definitions until a satisfactory definition is reached
Aporia
 Waylessness, a sense of being at a loss
– what was thought to be secure knowledge is shown to be not so
 The ‘dead wood’ of false knowledge and opinion has been clared away and the path is now open to true knowledge
Irony/Eironeia
 Many of those who took part or witnessed Socrates’ discussions were convinced that he knew the answers and was
deliberately mocking the participants
 Socrates’ primary aim was not simple to transfer knowledge, but get the person with whom he was conversing to
draw on his own thinking skills and knowledge
 Euthyphro enthusiastically claims that he knows what holiness is. He is so full of himself that he cannot recognise
the irony behind Socrates’ wish to become his pupil.
FIRST ARGUMENT
 Holiness is what Euthyphro is doing now (that is, prosecuting his father, a criminal, for the crime of manslaughter)
 Socrates rejects this because it is an example of holiness, not a definition
SECOND ARGUMENT
 Holiness is what the gods approve of
 Socrates rejects this on the obvious grounds that the gods disagree amongst themselves as to what meets their
approval. This means that a particular action, disputed by the gods, would be both holy and unholy at the same
time.
THIRD ARGUMENT
 Holiness is what all the gods approve of (and vice versa for unholiness)
 Socrates asks how gods judge an action as ‘holy’
 A carried thing is carried because it is carried, not because it possesses some innate property which we call
‘carried’. The thing we carry exists without our carrying it; our carrying it does not bring it into existence.
 In the same way, we approve something which is already there. The approval follows the recognition that an action
is holy. Euthyphro’s definition is therfore flawed.
 Socrates argues that the unanimous approval of the gods is merely an attribute of holiness, not a defining
characteristic.
 It does not define the essence of holiness.
FOURTH ARGUMENT
 Socrates puts forward his own definition: Holiness belongs to those actions we call just or morally good
 Socrates argues that holiness belongs to the genus of just/morally good actions. Now we must differentiate which
species it belongs to
FIFTH ARGUMENT
 Holiness is concerned with looking after the gods
 Socrates argues that this implies that when you perform a holy action, you improve the gods
– arrogance of humans
 Socrates asks what is the end product of holiness and Euthyphro falls back to the first argument – holiness is what
finds approval, from all the gods
SIXTH ARGUMENT
 Socrates proposes that holiness is a sort of sacrifice and prayer
 A form of trade: giving the gods gifts in return for receiving special favours
 Euthyphro states that humans do not give the gods gifts, but rahter ‘honour, esteem and gratitude’
 Holiness is what is approved by the gods
The Apology
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Socrates defence against charges of corrupting the youth and worshipping false gods
Plaintiff – accuser
Defendant – accused
Speeches were timed using a water clock, klepsydra
Socrates’ speech resembles a categoria (the speech of a plaintiff) rather than the highly emotional arguments
usually put forward by the accused.
Socrates is found guilty (221 for, 280 against)
In his search for universally valid definitions of moral truths, Socrates’ close scrutiny of the widely held communal
values of the average Athenians could be seen as undermining and discrediting those values
Aristophanes’ play, Clouds, provides a negative portrayal of Socrates
Accusation of corrupting the yount was levelled against many sophists, because of their emphasis on teaching
relative, rather than absolute, values
Socrates’ Accusers
 Anytus
- Prominent democrat, leader of the accusers
- Speaking on behalf of politicians and professional men
 Meletus
- Chief spokesman of the accusers
- Representative of poets
 Lycon
- Representative of orators
- (little is known about him)
The Charges Against Socrates
 Corrupting the minds of the young
 Believing in supernatural things of his own invention
 Twisting words so that the weaker argument defeats the stronger and teaches others to follow his example
Minor Charges/Other Considerations
 Socrates is not an orator, his skill lies solely in his ability to tell the truth
 He denies being a sophist
– He has never accepted payment for his teaching, nor has he engaged in physical speculation of the sort carried out
by Anaxagoras (who claimed that the sun was a stone and the moon a lump of earth)
 Socrates claims he is the wisest man alive, as he is the only one who knows he knows nothing
– This angers the court
 Socrates interpreted the result of his god-given search as showing that true wisdom belongs to the gods – human
wisdom has little or no value
 Death holds no fear for him – he focuses only on whether he acting rightly or wrongly
 Socrates owes a greater allegiance to the gods than the laws of the state
– Socrates interprets the words of the Delphic Oracle as a divine mission from Apollo
 Socrates points out that many of the fathers and brothers of the young men associated with him, support (not
condemn) him
 Socrates reminds the jury that he will rely solely on sound argument and truth to present his case
1.
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Socrates is guilty of corrupting the minds of the young
Socrates gets Meletus to assert there is only one person in the whole of Athens who corrupts the young (Socrates)
– this is obviously untrue, hence Socrates proves that Meletus does not have the slightest interest in the welfare of
the youth
Socrates argues that if indeed he set out to corrupt the young men around him he would be one of the first to suffer
harm at their hands
In effect, Socrates would be setting up a bad community instead of a good one
If he did this intentionally, he could rightfully be accused of acting in a very ignorant way
– however, everyone knows Socrates is anything but ignorant
Therefore, if he was corrupting youth, he must have done so unintentionally
– in this case, he should have been gently chastised and shown the error of his ways, not charged in court
2.
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Socrates is guilty of believing in supernatural things of his own invention, instead of the gods recornised by the
State
Socrates forces Meletus to argue that his opponent is an atheist. Socrates points out that this contradicts the original
charge.
Socrates must now simply prove that he believes in any single god
Socrates argues that noone can believe in divine activities without first believing in divine beings
– Socrates is referring to his daimonion, which prevents him from certain courses of action
The Punishment Speech
 Socrates points out that the vote was comparatively close (only needed 30 more votes to be found innocent)
 Alternative punishments: free meals as a benefactor to the city of Athens
– Socrates argues that if he has not done harm intentionally, why should he consider a punishment for himself?
 Socrates considers imprisonment and banishment before settling on a small fine of 100 drachmae
 Socrates does not suggest banishment, as it goes against his divine mission
The Speech After the Death Penalty
 Socrates again insists that the prospect of death does not absolve one from following the path of goodness and truth
 Socrates prophesies that younger and harsher critics will emerge after his death
 Socrates interprets the fact that his daimonion did not stop him from conducting his defence as a sign that it was the
right thing to do
 Death must be a blessing
– an annihilation or a migration to another place (to meet heroes of myth, with whom Socrates can continue his task
of questioning)
The Crito
 Socrates’ execution was delayed due to the commemoration of Theseus’ victory over the minotaur
 Theseus had freed Athenian youth from the imprisonment of the minotaur on the island of Crete
 Traditionally, no execution could take place until the boat travelling to Delos had returned (about a month)
 Crito was a friend of Socrates who tries to convince Socrates to escape
 The dialogue concerns the question: why should a citizen obey the laws of the state?
Part One: The preamble
 Crito visits Socrates early in the morning and tells him that the boat from Delos has been sighted at nearby Cape
Sunium
 Socrates describes a dream he had the previous night, and interprets it as a message from God telling him that he
will die in three days (not the next as Crito fears)
 In the dream, a beautiful woman dressed in white tells Socrates (echoing Homer’s words concerning Achilles)
– To the pleasant land of Phthia on the third day thou shalt come
 Phthia was Achelles’ homeland. Socrates interprets the words as meaning that he will ‘go home’ (ie die) in three
days’ time
Part Two: Crito argues with Socrates that he should escape
Crito has three main arguments:
 Popular opinion will say that Socrates’ friends let him down, by not successfully urging him to escape. They will
appear to others to be incompetent cowards.
– Socrates argues that it is not the ordinary person, fickle and unthinking, who should be listened to, but rather
sensible people, the experts He likens the care of one’s soul to an athlete in training.
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Socrates’ death means that his children will not receive the necessary care in their upbringing and education
– Crito’s arguments about money, reputation and the rearing of children are those of ‘most peole’ who do not
consider the key question which Socrates now puts to Crito
Socrates, by allowing himself to die unnecessarily, is doing just what his enemies wanted; he is giving them an
easy victory
– Socrates argues that he cannot abandon his principles (to escape would be to run counter to his principle that one
must never willingly commit an injustice)
– Moreover, Socrates says one should never ‘return an injustice or injury to any person, whatever the provocation’.
This goes against conventional Greek view which stated that one had not only the right but the duty to avenge any
wrong done to the individual/family.
- Even if the decision of the court was unjust, Socrates believes he has no right to retaliate against it by escaping;
he has no right to injure that state which has passed on him the death penalty.
Part Three: Socrates’ dialogue with the Laws of Athens
 Socrates imagines that he is visited by the Laws of Athens, who speak directly and passionately to him
 The Laws answer the important question: what gives a state the right to expect obedience from its citizens?
 Socrates uses the Laws as his mouthpiece to put forward three main arguments as to why each citizen should obey
the laws of the state
The city state of Athens would not survive if each citizen failed to obey its laws
 Therefore, citizens of a state should not seek to make themselves exceptions to the law
 The laws point out that there was no private provision made by Socrates between him and the laws which would
allow him to ignore an unjust verdict of the court – Socrates has no right to disobey the law and attempt to escape
The laws have offered a framework which allows each citizen to grow up and be educated under their care and
protection
 The state has been like a mother to Socrates; under their protection, Socrates’ parents arried, brought Socrates into
the world, cared for him and arranged for his education
 Hence, just as a parent has greater authority than a child, so too the state has greater authority than any of its
citizens
 If a child does not have the right to retaliate against its parents if scolded or beaten, because of the care and
protection they have provided in bringing the child up, then a citizen has even less right to retaliate against the state
which made such care and protection possible
 As a man who has promoted goodness all his life, Socrates cannot suddenly turn his back against it now that death
awaits him
 Obedience to the law is compulsory at all times.
 If a citizen finds a law to be unjust, then they have the opportunity to persuade the state to change the law. They
must show that the law is bad not only for them, but for the state as a whole
By remaining in Athens, each citizen has thereby freely chosen to obey the laws; otherwise he could have left for
another state
 Through the act of freely remaining in the state of Athens, each citizen ‘signs a contract’ promising allegiance to
Athens
– this echoes the thoughts of later philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who saw the states legitimacy as
coming from a social contract agreed to by its citizens, thus making it compulsory for them to obey its laws
 In this sense, Socrates has shown his satisfaction with Athenian laws more than most (he has only left the city for
military campaigns)
 Furthermore, Socrates had the change to propose banishment as the alternative punishment to death, but he chose
not to
 The crucial element here is freedom: no freedom, no contract and therefore no obligation
Final remarks
 If Socrates did escape, this would put his friends at risk of being banished or fined for helping him
 Further, no state is likely to welcome him
 Even if he found somewhere to live, Socrates would no longer be able to carry out discussions on morality and
justice, as this would brand him a hypocrite
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If he escaped to a less well goverened state, such as Thessaly, he himself would face humiliation and his children
would suffer greatly also. Death is a favourable alternative to this.
Socrates also considers the hostile reception he would receive in the Underworld as a breaker of laws and
agreements
Finally, the laws argue that it is not they who have harmed Socrates; that harm lies with his fellow citizens
The Phaedo
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Now for you , my jury, I want to explain to you how natural it seems to me that a man who has really devoted his
life to philosophy should be confident in the face of death, and hopeful of winning the greatest of prizes in the next
world after death
 Socrates imagines himself giving a second apology, but this time the jury is not his fellow Athenians, but his fellow
philosophers.
 Socrates’ apology will focus on the importance of death in supplying the conditions for knowledge, and the way
that a philosopher can approximate those conditions while alive
– arguments for the immortality of the sould, that spiritual and intellectual element which continues to exist after
the death of the body
 The sophisticated philosophical arguments of the middle section are almost certainly those of Plato, rather than
Socrates
 Phaedo, as an eyewitness to Socrates’ death, gives an account of it to a group of philosophers and locals
(Echecrates, Simmias and Cebes; Critobulus and Crito) in a town in the Peloponnese, Phlius, not far from Corinth
 Echecrates is a Pythatgorean philosopher who believes in the transmigration of the soul after death
 Phaedo was enslaved and pressed into service as a prostitue in a brothel (used his contacts amongst philosophers to
escape)
– Harold Tarrant suggests that Phaedo is in effect a living symbol of the freedom a philosopher’s soul must seek
from the desires of the body
The Customary Greek View of Death
 Most Greeks would have believed in life after death, but as something to dread, rather than calmly accept as
Socrates did
 In The Odyssey, Odysseus visits the Underworld
– the dead are shades, mere shadows of their former selves, a strange half-way condition between life and death
– the hero Achilles tells Odysseus that if he had known what death was like, he would have preferred a long, dull
life without honour to the short, exciting life he had, even with the reputation of being the world’s greatest warrior)
 Followers of Pythagoras and Orpheus also believed in a positive life after death
Death in the Apology
 Socrates uses people’s fear of death as proof that they think they are wise when in fact they are not
 Questions why are people afraid of death when they know nothing of what happens after they die. Since such
knowledge is impossible, they should not be fearful
 Socrates puts forward two positive possibilities for death: that it is either an annihilation, a reduction to nothingness
(and therefore similar to a dreamless sleep), or that death is a migration of the soul to a better place (where Socrates
can continue his philosophising)
 Touches on the judgement awaiting him in the afterlife.
– he names Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aecus as men in their lifetimes who have been rewarded by being made
judges in the afterworld
Death in the Crito
 It would be absurd for a man of his age (70) to fear death
 Life in a worn-out body would hardly be worth living
 Expands on the idea of ‘judgement’ also mentioned in the Apology
 This judgement has a moral basis: how well he has lived his life.
 If Socrates breaks the laws in this life, he will have to answer to the Laws in the next
Pleasure, pain and dreams
 Phaedo explains why Socrates’ execution was delayed, how he arrived early at the prison upon hearing of the
return of the boat from Delos, and how they were told by the porter that Socrates would die that day
 Relates how he felt in turn both pleasure (convinced that Socrates would achieve fulfilment in the next life) and
pain (for the loss of a friend)
 Socrates dismisses his wife, Xanthippe, because of her overwrought emotional state
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Comments on the close relationship between pleasure and pain
– He feels pleasure after having had the chain around his legs removed
Socrates tells them of his dream (‘Socrates, practice and cultivate the arts’)
He sees himself as obeying the god Apollo (god of prophetic dreams, music and poetry)
The philosopher’s view of suicide and death
 Socrates speaks with Simmias and Cebes
 Suicide is morally wrong
 Humans are possessions of the gods and are cared for by them; just as we would be angry if one of our possessions
were to destroy itself, so too are the gods
 Cebes tries to turn this against Socrates, arguing that if the former is true, then a sensible person would want to
remain as long as possible with his master and continue his task of philosophising. Simmias reinforces this view.
 Socrates argues that this would be true, if he did not have a positive expectation of what would happen to him after
death
 The afterlife will provide supremely good masters (the gods) as well as allow him to converse with great heroes
 Socrates anticipates having a more intimate and rewarding relationship with both groups
Socrates’ defence: death and knowledge
 A philosopher spends his life preparing for death and should not fear it when it comes
 Death is simply the separation of the two basic constituents of every human being, the body and soul
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The soul
– intellectual/moral aspect of human beings
– allows us to reason, discover the truth, make moral judgements
– works best when liberated from bodily demands (tiredness, hunger, illness, desire) which impede the work of the
intellect
– in this life, the closest we can get to knowledge is through reflection and contemplation
The body
– pleasures, feelings and emotions
– food and drink, sex, smart clothes, shoes, bodily ornaments, prestige and money, diseases, loves, fears, desires
(wars, revolutions, wealth): none of these are part of the ‘philosopher’s business’
– five sense (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) which belong to the body can deceive us
– the body distracts the soul from seeking the truth
Socrates introduces the important notion of abstract ideas like justice, beauty, goodness, tallness, health and
strength
- intellectual realities which cannot be comprehended through the sense
Without these fixed, changeless ideas we could make no claim to knowledge, because the data the senses present us
with is constantly changing
– link to Plato: Ideas/Forms (Sophie’s World – cookie cutter)
In life, the body is always with us. Therefore, knowledge (Truth) can only be attained after the death of the body
– metaphor of diesease: the body contaminates the soul
– this infection may hinder our entry into the afterlife; for Socrates, knowledge and morality are intimately linked
True philosophers make dying their profession
– Focus on their reasoning powers by distancing themselves from the harmful effects of their body
– this ‘purification’ will bring them closer to knowledge
– it would be self-contradictory for a philosopher to fear death, the very process which will make fuller knowledge
possible
A philosopher should show courage and temprance (self-control)
– philosophers show courage because they have reasoned it is the right thing to do
– ordinary people show courage because of fear and dread (they are ruled by their emotions)
– the temperate person finds pleasure in resisting other pleasures, so that self-restraint becomes self-satisfaction
– a philosopher, however, purges himself of such feelings and emotions; emotions cannot provide a basis for truth
and certainty as they are fickle and constantly changing (link to pleasure and pain)
– wisdom acts as a ‘cleansing agent’ of such emotions and will lead to truth and certainty
 Socrates emphasises the need for purity and enlightenment in order to enter the afterlife
Socrates drinks the hemlock
 Socrates dies practising what he preached; in a calm, composed manner, with no sign of fear or doubt – in fact, he
welcomes death, just as he argued any true philosopher should
 Socrates directs a gentle joke against Crito
‘How shall we bury you?’
‘Any way you like, that is if you can catch me and I don’t slip through your fingers’
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Calmly gives instructions to the women of his household and bids his sons a final farewell
Does not wait until the last moment to drink the hemlock; no wish to cling to life
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With his last words, instructs Crito to offer a cock to the god of healing, Asclepius
– may be suggesting that death is the ‘cure’ to life, another example of his wry humour
This, Echerates, was the end of our comrade, who was, we may fairly say, of all those whom we knew in our time
the bravest and also the wisest and most just
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