Socrates

We explain who Socrates was and why he revolutionized the concept of philosophy. Also, its characteristics and main teachings.

Who was Socrates?

Socrates is one of the most important Western philosophers in the entire history of philosophy. He was born in Athens, Greece, in 470 BC. C., and died in 399 BC. C. Because he did not write a known work, almost all the information we have about his thoughts, life and work comes from his most famous disciple, Plato, who made him the main interlocutor in most of his works. Aristophanes also included it in his works, as did Xenophon in his dialogues. Other disciples of his were Antisthenes, Aristippus and Aeschines.

Socrates was an excellent teacher. Already at the age of 40, he taught on public roads, at banquets and in the agora.which is what the squares of the Greek polis were called. Since his teaching was free and oral, he encouraged all listeners to reflect on what they considered true and, in many cases, invited them to examine their conscience.

Socrates marked a before and after in philosophy. From him a thought based on dialogue was discoveredthe critical stance and suspicion of truths commonly accepted as self-evident.

He is famous, above all, for having initiated the idea of ​​Socratic universals. These consisted of the definition of a concept, in most cases, a moral virtue, which marks a way of acting in daily life.

See also: Plato

The life of Socrates

Socrates He was born in Athens, in the year 470 or 469 BC. c. As we know from Plato, he was executed in 399 BC. C. His parents were Sophronisco and Fenáreta of the dêmos (from the Greek δῆμος, meaning “population” in the administrative sense) of Alópece.

It is believed that his mother was a midwife and his father was a stonemason or sculptor. From the Platonic dialogues we know that Socrates He participated in at least three battles of the Peloponnesian Warin which he fought alongside Laches and saved Alcibiades' life, as he himself mentions in The Banquet.

The different testimonies that exist about his life describe him as a married man, father of three children and friend of many young people and thinkers of the time. Plato narrates Socrates' views and preferences regarding different philosophical ideas and moral values. His passion for the usefulness of the ideals of beauty and goodness is often opposed to his own unattractive physical appearance and is often the object of ridicule, even by later philosophers such as Nietzsche.

Socrates insisted on finding definitions for the different virtues and advised people to take care of their soul and their ability to reason and know, before worrying about their physical appearance, which is sometimes contradictory.

The idea that goodness and beauty were defined by their degree of usefulness shows what the Athenian philosopher's way of thinking was like. In Plato's dialogues or in the works of Xenophon he is portrayed as someone who could confuse and then direct the thoughts of others to new positions, not previously considered. For this He only used questions, most of them almost common sense.. His intention was the importance of measuring things by their end in themselves, and how something functional was more beautiful than something simply aesthetic.

During his mature years he had a very active political participation.. In addition to having served in the army during the war, he was part of different debates and decision-making involving the city of Athens. Although he did not hold any official political position (something he boasted about), his political participation was what cost him his life. Socrates did not agree with the democratic system, but he never went against the current laws of the city.

At the end of the Peloponnesian War, in 404 BC. C., a group of men took power in the city of Athens and established an oligarchic regime, known as the group of Thirty. Many of them were friends or companions of Socrates, even though he did not approve of the violence of their actions. After taking power, The Thirty ordered Socrates to arrest Leo of Salamisa rich and well-positioned man.

Socrates, once again disagreeing with violence as a political resource, objected and went home. He was only saved from this act of rebellion thanks to the counterrevolution that restored democracy. However, the New Democrats knew that members of the group of Thirty (such as Critias, Alcibiades, and their companions) were very close to Socrates. Since they were not men of violence, they chose to accuse him in writing and put him on trial.. The main accuser was Meletus, who signed the letter along with Anytus, a powerful man for the time. The text accused him of having offended the religion of the State and having corrupted the morals of the youth.

Instead of escaping the city or proposing a punishment other than death, Socrates defended himself, thus vindicating his life's work.. He was sentenced to death and, against the advice of most of his friends, he decided to abide by the law and was murdered after being forced to drink the hemlock. Both his defense and his last conversations are narrated in the Apology and in the Phaedoboth dialogic works by Plato.

The legacy of Socrates

One of the most important contributions of Socrates is that, for him, Philosophy should be an exercise of practical contribution to the lives of men. Philosophy must teach how to live. This involves deeply understanding different philosophical elements, such as good and evil, virtue or piety, and discovering their daily usefulness. Only in this way can the individual approach knowledge.

Socrates did not write down any of his teachings. He believed that if he did, his ideas might be confused. Everything that is known today is due to the annotations of his disciples, more specifically, those of Plato. In most Platonic dialogues, Socrates is the main character. Only in two of them, written during Plato's old age, does Socrates play a secondary role. The same is true of many of the works of Xenophon and those of Aristophanes.

However, not having left a written work returns to the historical Socrates a much more interesting, confusing and unavoidable character for the history of philosophy. His philosophical attitude, as shown by his disciples, set a precedent not only for the daily practice of philosophy, the role of the teacher or the way of approaching questions, but even for the objective that philosophy in general must assume.

The Socratic method

The maieutics

The most popular writings by which Socrates' thought is known are the Platonic dialogues. These consist of a series of questions and answers between the philosopher and his students. This dialogue of questions and answers is known as the Socratic or maieutic method and is used to this day.

When it is named “maieutic”, it is described as a process similar to that of childbirth. Maieutics is a way to help the interlocutor find the truth that he already carries with him. Thus, the method used seeks to reach the truth through dialogue, asking again and again about what was said.

It is Socrates himself who compares his way of proceeding with that of giving birth. In The banquet tells how the priestess Diotima affirms that the soul of each man wants to give birth and that is why the philosopher's task is that of a midwife who assists in the birth of knowledge or logos.

Mayéutica even translates as “midwife” or “obstetrics”profession exercised by Socrates' mother. Even in the Theaetetus, Socrates reminds his interlocutor that his mother was a midwife and that he fulfills the same function but with respect to the souls of men, helping to give birth to the knowledge stored in their souls.

Dialogical structure of the method

Structurally, Most of the Platonic dialogues in which Socrates appears maintain the same argumentative form.. This consists of a typical series of steps based on questions and answers, classified into two large parts: Socratic irony and maieutics as a procedure itself.

The first can be summarized in two discursive attitudes that Socrates assumes: Socratic irony and refutation. In fact, the entire method is often called “Socratic irony.” Regardless of the name he bears, the attitudes that Socrates embodies are the following:

• The irony. It is the way of feigning ignorance regarding knowledge or subject matter. Faced with an interlocutor who is assumed to be the wisest in the matter at hand, Socrates acts as if he did not know what the point to be discussed consists of and asks about it ironically. This attitude is supposed to be a way of making fun of himself, since he was considered “the wisest man in Athens.”
• The refutation. It is the demonstration of the contradiction of the person's thinking. Through refutation, the person's own ignorance is made evident.

What happens in many of Plato's works is that, At best, Socrates' interlocutors are left in aporia: They discarded their old opinions, but they find themselves at a dead end. If at first in the dialogue the interlocutor believes he knows, for example, what piety consists of, in the end he knows that it was not as he thought it was and, however, he still does not know what it is.

Irony and refutation are followed by maieutics. Once the interlocutor is stripped of his old beliefs, the dialogue continues in such a way that, with the help of Socrates (as if he were a midwife), the knowledge already accumulated in the soul of whoever is is given birth or discovered. assisted, as told in The banquet and in the Theaetetus.

“I only know that I know nothing”

Socrates doubts everythingeven from those who were considered wise at the time. According to the story, his friend, the wise Chaerephon, went to the oracle at Delphi and asked if there was anyone wiser than Socrates. The oracle's fortune teller replied that “there was no wiser person in all of Athens.” However, Socrates doubted the oracle.

The difference between the wise men of the time and Socrates is that the wise men believed themselves to be absolute wise men, with absolute knowledge, while Socrates could see his wisdom but also his ignorance. Hence his famous phrase “I only know that I know nothing.” It is worth clarifying that this phrase is an approximation of what he may have once said. If we stick to the Platonic dialogues, we find that it is a paraphrase of some of his statements.

For example, in the Apology of Socrates (Plato's) in the middle of an argument, he says: “This man, on the other hand, believes that he knows something, while he knows (nothing). On the other hand, I, who also don't know (anything), don't believe (I know anything) either.” Strictly, Socrates He does not claim not to know, but rather he believes he recognizes himself as ignorant.a point in which lies, then, its true wisdom.

The concept of good and evil

For Socrates, vices are expressions of ignorance. On the other hand, all virtue is a sign of knowledge. Knowledge is fundamental since through it we access the truth and, for Socrates, every person who has fair and measured knowledge will act well. On the other hand, Those who act badly do so out of ignorance and not out of malice.. Human beings are good by nature, but they act evilly due to ignorance of the truth. This is true ignorance as Socrates thinks and presents it.

The word and writing

Socrates He held all his exhibitions or classes in public places and he did it orally: for him the discussion had more force in the field of orality.

On the other hand, it is important to consider that, at that time, Almost all of the Athenian people did not know how to read.Therefore, for him, oratory is a fundamental means of communication to reach knowledge of the truth.

Knowledge and wisdom

For Socrates, knowledge is not limited to the accumulation of knowledge but knowledge is, in part, what the subject brings with him and that serves as a basis for adding new knowledge. But on the other hand, for Socrates knowledge must fulfill and help in practical functions. If not, it is inert knowledge.

References

• Guthrie, W. (1988). History of Greek Philosophy, vol. IV. Plato, the man and his dialogues: first period. Gredos.
• Guthrie, W. (1988). History of Greek Philosophy, vol. V. Plato, second period and the Academy. Gredos.
• Guthrie, W. (1994). History of Greek Philosophy, Vol III. 5th century. Illustration. Gredos.
• Guthrie, W. (1953). The Greek philosophers. From Thales to Aristotle. FCE.