Athenian, born 470/469 BCE Died in 399BCE, having been sentenced to death by drinking poison
- It is very difficut to pinpoint Socrates
- He has written nothing
- he is supposed to have changed philosophy: his trial and death are the founding myth of the academic discipline of philosophy
- His life is widely considered paradigmatic as an example of the philosophical.
- Many were moved to write about him, all of whom found him strange by the conventions of fifth-century Athens: In his appearance, personality and behavior as well as in his views and methods
What did he do?
He was usually at the marketplace (agora) and other public areas talking to pretty much anyone. He engages in a question-and-answer mode of probing serious matters. Socrates lifework is examining people’s lives, because “the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being,” as he says at his trial (Plato, Apology 38a). Athenian young people imitated Socrate’s questioning style, annoying elders a lot
Socrates Personality
Socrates Philosophy
Sources
Direct Sources:
- Aristophanes (450-386): Clouds (comedy)
- Xenophon (425-354): Memorabilia, Apology of Socrates, Symposium, etc. (He doesn’t really get Socrates)
- Plato (424-347): Socrates is the main character in many dialogues, some of them (such as Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Laches, Charmides, or Protagoras, are thought to reflect historical Socrates’ philosophy).
Indirect Sources:
- Aristotle (384-322) sometimes makes a distinction between historical Socrates and Socrates the fictional character in Plato’s dialogues
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