Socrates, a Greek philosopher and teacher, was born June 4th, 469 BC in Athens, lived his life in Athens, and died in May 7, 399 BC. Because Socrates never wrote anything of his own, there is little evidence of Socrates life. Everything the world knows about Socrates comes mainly from the works of Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes, and Xenophon. These works are mostly dialogues, plays, and historians’ notes. It is in the works and dialogues of two main witnesses that the life of Socrates has mostly been constructed. These two witnesses are Plato and Xenophon, both of which were students of Socrates. From these writings, we learn that Socrates’ father, Sophroniscus, was a stone cutter, or sculptor, and his mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife. He married Xanthippe, who was considered a shrew, and they had three sons, Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus. All three sons were still very young at the time of Socrates’ death. Because she was so ill-tempered, Xanthippe was very difficult to live with and that Socrates had attested that having learned to live with Xanthippe, he would be able to cope with every other human being.
Socrates was known to live a noble life and died a courageous death. It is said that he devoted his live completely to seeking truth and goodness. However, it is unclear what Socrates did for a living, because for most of his life he did not work a real job or for anyone. It was also unlikely for him to have lived off of family inheritance because his father was an artisan. Also, it was said that Socrates didn’t accept money for teaching. Most probable was that it was possible that he may have lived off of his wealthy friends. According to Xenophon, Socrates stated that he devoted himself entirely to discussing a...
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...the one thing that he constantly claimed to have knowledge of was “ the art of love.” He also stated that the best way for people to live was to focus on self-development rather than personal wealth. He also believed that virtue was the most valuable of all possessions and that an ideal life was spent in search for the Good, and it is the job of the philosopher to show the rest how little they really know.
Works Cited
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“Socrates.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 8 Mar. 2006
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“Socrates - A Biography of Socrates Life.” 2002 by Love To Know Corp. 7 Mar. 2006
http://www.2020site.org/socrates/index.html.
Socrates lived at a period when the ancient city-states of Greece were in war leading to the ultimate defeated of his polis, Athens by Sparta during the Peloponnesian War. Socrates was fond of discourse and arguments on free thought and rhetoric. One of his most famous works, the “Apology” and inspiring Greek writer Xenophon to recreate his conversations in literary works after his death to include “Memorabilia” and “Economicus”. These writings appeared around the same period of the height of Plato’s activity through teaching rhetoric and philosophy in ancient Greece (Huang 404). Thus, it is prudent to explore both the writings of other Greek thinkers to lay down the proper and exhaustive foundation on the philosophy, plays, and teachings of Socrates (Russell 59). The rhetoric of Socrates did not sit well with the aristocrats in Greece who constantly accused him of corrupting the youth and leading meaningless and at times profane thought in both the youth and his students. The writings of the “Apology” finally culminates in the death of Socrates, who was killed by poison after being accused by informants and his old accusers of not grounding his arguments
Recognized as one of the classical Greek Athenian philosophers who founded Western philosophy, Socrates was a mysterious figure known essentially through the accounts of later classical writers, especially from writings of his students Xenophon and the most popular Plato. Through Plato’s dialogues, Socrates has been portrayed and renowned for his involvement in the field of moral principles, and by this the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic Method had come about. With Socrates’ pedagogy, a series of questions can be asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to persuade deep-seated insights into the real issues at hand. His result remains a frequently used tool in a broad series of discussions.
Imagine the time just after the death of Socrates. The people of Athens were filled with questions about the final judgment of this well-known, long-time citizen of Athens. Socrates was accused at the end of his life of impiety and corruption of youth. Rumors, prejudices, and questions flew about the town. Plato experienced this situation when Socrates, his teacher and friend, accepted the ruling of death from an Athenian court. In The Last Days of Socrates, Plato uses Socrates’ own voice to explain the reasons that Socrates, though innocent in Plato’s view, was convicted and why Socrates did not escape his punishment as offered by the court. The writings, “Euthyphro,” “The Apology,” “Crito,” and “Pheado” not only helped the general population of Athens and the friends and followers of Socrates understand his death, but also showed Socrates in the best possible light. They are connected by their common theme of a memoriam to Socrates and the discussion of virtues. By studying these texts, researchers can see into the culture of Athens, but most important are the discussions about relationships in the book. The relationships between the religion and state and individual and society have impacted the past and are still concerns that are with us today.
Whether Socrates is portrayed correctly or not, he certainly was a great man. His contribution to western thought cannot be denied. For even if his teachings were different from what they are known to be at present, his influence on Plato is immense. And so, it is no small matter to describe the tragic passing of such a man as Socrates was and remains for philosophy today. Yet in all the indignation which is expected to arise at the death of Socrates, the panache with which he departs is captured excellently in Plato's “Apology.” Specifically, at the end of the "Apology," Socrates makes a very important statement that has had great impact on philosophy ever since its original proclamation. The Stoics in particular have taken this to be the cornerstone of their ideology. The statement made is that "you must regard one thing at least as certain—that no harm can come to a good man either in his life or after his death,” (Plato 100). The following examination focuses therefore on a brief explanation of the circumstances which lead to this statement being made by Socrates, as well as a closer look at why he thinks this to be the case. It is assumed that this statement is true, and validation for that assumption is to be sought as well.
To begin with, Socrates is obviously a proud man, and when he declares that he will never give way to anyone for the sake of h...
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 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.
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.
For these two articles that we read in Crito and Apology by Plato, we could know Socrates is an enduring person with imagination, because he presents us with a mass of contradictions: Most eloquent men, yet he never wrote a word; ugliest yet most profoundly attractive; ignorant yet wise; wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. Behind these conundrums is a contradiction less often explored: Socrates is at once the most Athenian, most local, citizenly, and patriotic of philosophers; and yet the most self-regarding of Athenians. Exploring that contradiction, between Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen and Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society, will help to position Plato's Socrates in an Athenian legal and historical context; it allows us to reunite Socrates the literary character and Athens the democratic city that tried and executed him. Moreover, those help us to understand Plato¡¦s presentation of the strange legal and ethical drama.
About the year of 470 B.C, a man was born in Athens and his name was Socrates. He was a son of a working sculptor and a midwife. Socrates lived in the greatest and most exciting period of his country's history, when Athens developed from a mere city-state to be the head of an empire. He studied problems of Physics, Biology, and other sciences, and learned the art of making the worse argument appear the better. He could easily be involved in public decisions but he did not enjoy politics so he stuck to his interests and life that consisted the qualities of a thinker. He would constantly be thinking about the "ordinary man" and the interests of an "ordinary man". He had many companions, men of all ages and from all parts of the Greek world. This already tells us that he is very pre-occupied with how other people's minds worked and if he could figure out how to teach them rational thinking. Easily most of his ideas would come from talking to other people
Socrates was born in 469 BCE and died in 399 BCE. In fact, because Socrates kept no writings of his own, his students are the lenses in which we
Nails, Debra, N. (2005, September 16). Socrates. Stanford University. Retrieved November 11, 2013, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/
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...
While he was growing up he received a very typical education, no different than any other average child living in Athens at the time. As he got older he became very muscular, although was quite short according to Plato’s, Symposium. After his education he went on to become a hoplite, an Athenian soldier (Twardowski, 353). Following his career as a hoplite, he started his philosophical journey and never worked for money again (“Socrates”). Socrates would go around and help people develop their ideas. Instead of telling people what to think, which is what their government and elders did, he challenged the people to think for themselves. He would question people as to why they believe what they did in more of a dialect than a teaching or lecturing (Twardowski, 354). This is where the Method of Elenchus originated, more commonly known as the Socratic method, and is still well known thanks to a text written by a student of Socrates named Plato. The Socratic method eventually led the young adults to change the way they see the world. Instead of having the same thoughts as their parents and government, they began to think for themselves (“Socrates”). As one can imagine the older Athenian people were furious. The younger generation was now questioning their beliefs and thinking in a way people had never considered before. People speculated that Socrates was a sophist. The