Introduction
The wise and inquisitive Socrates was both a philosopher and a martyr, not just in his words but in his actions as well. Socrates was so adamant about his principles that he wouldn’t deny them to save his own life. A lesser man left in his shoes would have done anything to stop the fate that he faced. Socrates practiced what he preached through and through and for the most part only taught good morals.
The next four pages consist of the life of Socrates, his contributions to the world, his family life, appearance, events leading to his death and his death. You should see how strict the Greek government was. Most of all this paper should teach you what kind of a person Socrates was and what kind of a person you are.
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Socrates
What is known about Socrates stems from the works of his pupil Plato and the historian Xenophon. Since both men were about 45 years younger than Socrates, the only first hand knowledge they had of him was from the last 10 to 12 years of his life. Some believe that since Xenophon and Socrates weren’t close, the information that he had of Socrates was drawn from Plato. Since Socrates never wrote anything down and didn’t leave anything behind, the accuracy of his history is questionable.
Socrates was born in Athens, Greece in 469 B.C. where he lived all of his life. His father was a wealthy sculptor named Sophroniscus and friend to the family of Aristides, the founder of the Delian League from which the empire arose. His mother was said to be a “midwife” (which implies nothing about her place in society) named Phaenarete.
Although Socrates was known as a great fighting man, his appearance wasn’t pretty. He was short and stout, big nostrils on a small stubby nose, and prominent eyes. Despite his appearance, those who knew him were aware that his true beauty was on the 3 inside. It was said, that he had great self-control and endurance, along with unparalleled intelligence, and sophistication.
As a youth Socrates was the pupil of Archelaus and studied scientific theories of Anaxagoras. Later in life Socrates abandoned physical studies and focused on the building of moral character. He believed that to do wrong is to damage the soul and that it is worse to do wrong than to be wronged, so you should never do wrong to right a wrong.
Socrates was an Athenian man who, according to Kishlansky, was a solider in the Peloponnesian War (56).The Peloponnesian war lasted for 27 years (431 B.C.E. to 404 B.C.E)and the two opposing sides were the Athenians and the Spartans (“Peloponnesian War”). For a better picture of where the Athenians and Spartans were at this time, Peloponnesus is a peninsula in southern Greece that is linked to the rest of mainland Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth (93). This is where Sparta thrived and also where Olympia was located (93). To the northeast of Peloponnesus peninsula is the Attic peninsula were the Athenians lived (93). Historians are unsure as to how long Socrates served in the war but as we can tell by the dates provided this Socrates execution was about 5 years after the war ended.
According to Pierre Hadot, “Thus philosophy was a way of life, both in its exercise and effort to achieve wisdom, and its goal, wisdom itself. For real wisdom does not merely cause us to know: it makes us “be” in a different way” ( Pierre 265) This explanation of a philosophical way of life is in all ways the definition of Socrates’ life. Socrates made his way through his entire life living in this way, seeking out wisdom, seeking out answers and never once got in trouble with the court until the age of seventy years old. He believed that by telling people about ignorance and wisdom, that he was only doing so for the good of the people. Socrates even goes as far as saying, “I am that Gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you”(Plato 9). Socrates believes that he was sent from God to show people a different way of life, a life of questioning and reason to which he should teach to all people. When asked if he was ashamed of a course of life of which would likely bring him to an untimely end Socrates says, “you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong” (Plato 7).
Socrates was wise men, who question everything, he was found to be the wise man in Athens by the oracle. Although he was consider of being the wises man alive in those days, Socrates never consider himself wise, therefore he question everything in order to learned more. Socrates lived a poor life, he used to go to the markets and preach in Athens he never harm anyone, or disobey any of the laws in Athens, yet he was found guilty of all charges and sentence to die.
The people in Athens are still respect him, that is why they will treat him seriously and put him in jail. Drifting away the idea of justice, Socrates’s idea challenges the society. Each society has its limit to tolerate, the behavior of Socrates provoke the authority of Athens openly. In this case, Socrates die for the insistence of his own
Socrates lived such a private life that it lead to the most important revelation of his entire life. He would go about his life doing nothing but self-examination. In examining his life so strenuously others would come to him to be taught, or to have their children be taught by Socrates. They would offer him money and he would refuse. They would do whatever they could to learn anything Socrates had to teach. What they did not know is that Socrates was not teaching anyone he was simply going about his usual life and people just happened to learn from it. This was also why Socrates was put on trial. He was brought up on two charges, one of impiety and the other of corrupting the youth. These two charges set the course for the last month of his life.
Through time there have been a number of great philosophers, John Locke, Rene Descartes, Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, that positively impacted and changed the world’s way of thinking. Plato lived from about 428 BC until 347 BC in which he wrote over twenty six dialogues, including the Apology, Crito, and Euthyphro (Source 2). Socrates introduced ethics, the study of what people should do, instead of analyzing what people do like the other philosophers of that time period (Source 4). Socrates did not believe he was a teacher to anyone, therefore it is said Plato studied with Socrates for about ten years and was not a student of his (Source 2). Due to the fact there is no written record directly from Socrates, what is known about him comes primarily from Plato’s dialogues (Source 4). The Apology is Plato’s account of the dialect Socrates used to defend himself at his indictment trial and conviction.
In my opinion Socrates is giving as a good model of a vocation of a philosopher. When I think of a philosopher I think of some that gets people to ask questions and think. This is exactly what Socrates does for the people of Athens. He is accused of doing wrong when he is just trying to help advance society. Another thing that makes him a great philosopher is the fact that he sticks to his moral throughout. He has the ability to escape prison but he knows that would go against all of his teachings. So he accepts death.
He believed that intelligence and having a sound understanding of oneself was far superior to the beauty standards that were very prominent and important in Athens during his time period. Although he obtained no traits that would have identified him as beautiful in his society, he was still successful and thriving in his own eyes, and this in itself went against much of what Athens stood for. However, Socrates did not believe in going against the government which allowed him to marry, gifted him with education, and in many ways, simply gave him his life. Even this idea could not prevent him from analysing the society, developing his own understanding, and sharing ideas that were opposite to which was expected from citizens. All of what he was sharing with his students was not widely accepted in Athens and it resulted in him being convicted by a jury.
(37) The problem is that many of the citizens of Athens who wanted Socrates dead, lacked that emotional intelligence and thought highly of themselves. So of course they become defensive when Socrates sheds light on the idea that they may be wrong. As someone who cared most about the improvement of the soul, Socrates would have made a constructive role model to the criminals of Athens, as he would go on saying, “virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man…”(35) Socrates was able to benefit everyone alike as he had human wisdom- something that all the Athenians could relate
Socrates is a great philosopher, who uses the method of maieutics or the eclectic method to teach people. Additionally, Socrates uses argumentive dialogue between individuals by asking questions and answers to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas clearly from
"Socrates Biography - Life, Name, Story, Death, History, School, Young, Son, Information, Born, Time." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web. 05 July 2011. .
Socrates was a man that was in search of the truth about wisdom. However, it became more than just a simple search, rather it tuned into a complex assignment where the answer of true wisdom leads Socrates to be brought up on charges of corrupting society. As a philosopher Socrates is known to take every angle of an argument and to never put belief into one idea. Therefore Socrates was known to perplex even simple ideas and to frustrate his opponent. People who have experienced this accuse Socrates of making his own truths about the natural and unnatural world when in actuality he his still in search of a better meaning. This becomes a key factor in the "Apology" where Socrates is brought up on charges for corrupting the mind of the youths and the people that attended to his lectures. His best defence comes about when he tells the Athenian jury about his account of a confrontation of his friend Chairephon and the Oracle of Delphi.
Each one of us has been accused of some kind of act at some point in our lives. Yet those accusations have been terribly mistaken and sometimes there is so little that a person can do to fix that. In this case we are talking about the wonderful philosophist Socrates, a person of many beliefs and ideas. He was a man who dearly believed in justice and doing justice to others. We will examine Socrates' way of thinking and his rationality towards a healthy and logical mind. After reading the Meno, Apology, and Crito I have come to a conclusion that Socrates made the right decision by rejecting Crito's offer of escape and the reasoning behind that will be explained by providing parts of the dialogues and the ideas behind them.
Socrates was a very important philosopher. He usually questioned a lot about traditions, religion and government. One of his ideas, now used at school, is the Socratic Method. This is that a person asks questions to the pupil, and while the pupil responds, the answer is becoming clearer. Socrates did not like to write any books. He always preferred staying at the market talking and questioning people, than staying at home writing books. He was very controversial, an...
When Socrates was brought to trial for the corruption of the city’s youth he knew he had done nothing wrong. He had lived his life as it should be lead, and did what he ne...