SOCRATES
THE WISEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED
BIOGRAPHY
469 B.C.E. -399 B.C.E.
WHO WAS SOCRATES?
•
Lived during the Golden Age of
Athens—the foundation of Western
culture. He was born ten years
after Confucius died.
•
Little is known about his early life,
but Socrates was widely known to
be dissatisfied with the knowledge
he acquired from other teachers—
led to the development of his own
method of education.
•
As a young man, Socrates was told
by the Oracle at Delphi that he
would never meet a wiser man. As
a result, he spent the rest of his life
testing those who considered
themselves wise. WHO WAS SOCRATES?
ONE UGLY DUDE…
The extant sources agree that Socrates
was profoundly ugly, resembling a satyr
more than a man—and resembling not
at all the statues that turned up later in
ancient times and now grace Internet
sites and the covers of books. He had
wide-set, bulging eyes that darted
sideways and enabled him, like a crab,
to see not only what was straight ahead,
but what was beside him as well; a flat,
upturned nose with flaring nostrils; and
large fleshy lips like an ass. Socrates let
his hair grow long, Spartan-style (even
while Athens and Sparta were at war),
and went about barefoot and
unwashed, carrying a stick and looking
arrogant. HIS TRIAL AND DEATH
•
Socrates was ultimately tried by the city of Athens for corrupting
the youth.
•
Socrates was accused of not believing in the gods in which the
state believes, bringing in other new divinities, and wronging by
“corrupting the youth.”
•
Socrates’ trial was before a group of 501 jurors—and he was
condemned by 80 votes. When the decision of sentencing was
raised, Socrates suggested that the city pay for his meals, and
then that he pay a fine that was the equivalent of one dollar.
They chose to put him to death, largely because he antagonized
them.
SOCRATES WAS A BIG DEAL
•
One of the most significant Western Philosophers—
the world of philosophy is often divided between
Socratic and pre-Socratic thought.
•
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes
Socrates like this: “[He] remains, as he was in his
lifetime an enigma, an inscrutable individual who,
despite having written nothing, is considered one of
the handful of philosophers who forever changed
how philosophy itself was to be conceived.”
“Therefore I am still even now going about and
searching and investigating at the god's behest
anyone, whether citizen or foreigner, who I think
is wise; when he does not seem so to me, I help
the god by showing that he is not wise. And by
reason of this occupation I have no leisure to
attend to any of the affairs of the state worth
mentioning, or of my own, but am incessantly in
poverty due to my service to the god.”
HIS
PHILOSOPHY
“I CANNOT TEACH
ANYBODY ANYTHING.
I CAN ONLY MAKE
HIM THINK.”
SOCRATES ON PHILOSOPHY
•
Destroy Assumptions: Socrates said
that philosophy is a peculiar practice
because it builds by destroying and
what it destroys is assumptions.
•
Study of Human Nature: Socrates
marks the transition from philosophy
as a study of the universe to a study of
human nature.
•
The Examined Life: Socrates famously
said, "the unexamined life is not worth
living," summarizing his philosophy. SOCRATES ON VIRTUE
Virtue=Knowledge: Socrates believed
that no one did wrong willingly and
that those who do wrong do it out of
ignorance of what was the right thing
to do. Socrates believed that only an
understanding of one's soul could
one find genuine happiness. One
must know the nature of good, or she
will act blindly on the basis of
convention or convenience, calling
something good because it is popular
or easy. SOCRATES ON VIRTUE
Moral Scale: Socrates had established a
sort of moral scale by which to measure
the inherent good of things. At the bottom
of this scale was external good; money,
possessions and material wealth. Near the
middle of the scale was the good of the
body; health, strength, and the like. At the
top of the scale was the good of the soul;
wisdom and moral integrity. Accepting
this scale to be true leads to the idea that
it is better to suffer an injustice, even if it
results in the loss of your possessions or
even your life, than to commit an injustice.
SOCRATES ON EDUCATION
•
Admitting Ignorance: Though Socrates
was widely credited for his intelligence
and wisdom, he said that the most
important step to education was
admitting what we don’t know.
•
Self Education: the only true wisdom and
knowledge comes from self-education
and self-discovery. Socrates said that he
was "the wisest man" he knew, for he
knew that he "knew nothing." •
Socrates believed that the best form of
learning came through conversation,
discussion, and inquiry.
THE SOCRATIC METHOD
•
Socrates used a teaching device called the
elenchus, which is close in meaning to crossexamination. Truth is discovered in conflict of
ideas and the answers ones gives to
questions.
•
Leads to the development of the dialectic,
the idea that wisdom is generated through
conflict of ideas—that a thesis and antithesis
in conflict will generate synthesis, or wisdom.
•
For Socrates, philosophy was less about
knowing the right answers and more about
the strenuous effort to find those answers.
Philosophy, according to Socrates, was a
lifelong quest (Tarnas). BEN FRANKLIN ON THE
SOCRATIC METHOD
I found this [Socratic] method the
safest for myself and very
embarrassing to those against whom I
used it; therefore, I took delight in it,
practiced it continually, and grew very
artful and expert in drawing people,
even of superior knowledge, into
concessions the consequences of
which they did not foresee, entangling
them in difficulties out of which they
could not extricate themselves, and so
obtaining victory that neither myself
nor my causes always deserved.
—Benjamin Franklin, Papers