Socrates 470-399BCE

Today you will learn: Who Socrates was. What the main ideas of his Philosophy (thinking) were all about.

Socrates - The ugliest Philosopher in town.

Who is Socrates Socrates is a very well known Greek philosopher whose thinking still plays a major part in modern philosophy. During his life time he did not write down a single thing and almost everything we know about him comes to us through the writings of his best known student PLATO

What do we know about him? We know that his Dad was a sculptor. We know that his Mother was a Mid-Wife We know he served in the Athenian Army where he was a great and brave soldier. He became very poor in later life as he, unlike the Sophists refused to take any payment for teaching.

Anything Else? Plato tells us through his writings that he was a very moral person. He was a very couragous person. He tells us that he was kindly, generous and humorous. We also know that he was eventually killed by the Anthian Government for speaking out against them.

So what was Socrates philosophy all about? Well ultimately, Socrates Philosophy focuses mainly on ETHICS.

What are Ethics? The Dictionary Definition of Ethics are: plural noun moral code, morals, morality, values, rights and wrongs, principles, ideals, standards (of behavior), value system, virtues, conscience.

What did he think of Ethics? Socrates beleived that it was the duty of each human being to explore the truth regarding right and wrong, justice and injustice, and courage and cowardice. Socrates really REALLY wanted to come up with a universal definition of Justice.

Did he succeed? Not really, no. Socrates worked tirelessly to find certain laws (rules) that we could use in order to lead good lives. He believed that once we found what these laws (rules) that they would be universal. He hoped that these laws (rules) would hold true for all people, at all times and in all situations. Obviously it would be very difficult to figure out what these laws/rules should be.

VERY IMPORTANT If you remember the view of the Sophists was that there was no such thing as universal truth. What is the right thing to do differs from Person to Person - or it is RELATIVE. Socrates view on this is radically different - He felt that there was an absolute one, universal truth that could be applied to all people in all situations. He felt that the view of the Sophists would lead to the destruction of Athens.

Socrates and DIALOGUE. Socrates didnt just sit around all day long thinking to himself - his philosophy had a very unique style. His way of thinking developed by talking to people in a series of conversations called dialogues.

Who did he talk to? Well, really Socrates only spoke to clever people. For example, if he wanted to talk about Justice he would try and talk to people who thought they knew everything there is to know on Justice If he wanted to talk about morals he would find people who thought they knew everything there is to know on morals.

continued... In these conversations - or DIALOGUES as they were called, Socrates would always pretend to be completely ignorant about the topic they were discussing. And by asking a few very good simple questions he would clevely show the ‘experts’ how much they did not know.

continued. The aim of theses philosophical dialogues was to discover the truth about how one should lead a good moral life. Socrates himself learned this way and he encouraged everybody else to question their beliefs and knowledge.

Socrates and the Soul. Socrates always saw the soul as being very important. He beleived that we had to mind our soul, look after it, care for it. He said that we should all lead a virteous life and that if we did we would save our soul.

So how does Socrates suggest we live a vitreous life? The only way to be vitreous is to gain wisdom. FOR SOCRATES KNOWING WHAT WAS GOOD WAS THE SAME AS DOING WHAT WAS GOOD. He is reputed to have said ‘knowing what we are, we shall know how to take care of ourselves, and if we are ignorant, we shall not’ What do you think this means?

To finish off this section on Socrates - turn to top of page 25 in your book.

To Summarise... Socrates was a greek philosopher who was born in the Sixth Century. He never wrote anything down. He was very concerned with the question of ethics, morals what was right and wrong. He was not too concerned with the natural world, where we came from, why are we here etc. He was mostly concerned with the way we act - and why we do the things we do. Socrates was very concerned with the care of the soul.