SOCRATES

I. BIOGRAPHY OF SOCRATES

EARLY LIFE

Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, an Athenian stone

mason and sculptor and his mother, Phaenarete, was a

midwife. He learned his father's craft and apparently

practiced it for many years. Details of his early life are

scarce, although he appears to have had no more than an

ordinary Greek education before devoting his time almost

completely too intellectual interests. He did, however, take

a keen interest in the works of the natural philosophers,

and Plato records the fact that Socrates met Zeno of Elea (c.

495–430 B.C.E. ) and Parmenides (born c. 515B.C.E. ) on

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their trip to Athens, which probably took place about

450 B.C.E. Socrates himself wrote nothing, therefore

evidence of his life and activities must come from the

writings of Plato and Xenophon (c. 431–352 B.C.E. ). It is

likely that neither of these presents a completely accurate

picture of him, but Plato's Apology, Crito,

Phaedo, and Symposium contain details which must be

close to fact.

PERSONAL LIFE

Socrates was married to Xanthippe, who was said to be

much younger to him. The couple had three sons,

Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus.

DEATH

One of the reasons for his accusation was his paradoxical

wisdom which made many prominent Athenians look

foolish. He was accused of corrupting the minds of young

people and not believing in the God of the state. He was

sentenced to death by drinking poison. It was mentioned

that Socrates turned down the pleas of Crito to attempt an

escape from poison. Once he took the poison, he was asked

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to walk around until his legs felt numb. After a while,

Socrates couldn’t feel his legs and few moments later the

numbness reached his heart. His last words to Crito were,

“Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Please, don't forget

to pay the debt.”

II. SOCRATES:PHILOSOPHY

Although he was well known during his own time for

his conversational skills and public teaching, Socrates

wrote nothing, so we are dependent upon his students

(especially Xenophon and Plato) for any detailed

knowledge of his methods and results. The trouble is that

Plato was himself a philosopher who often injected his own

theories into the dialogues he presented to the world as

discussions between Socrates and other famous figures of

the day. It is usually assumed that at least the early

dialogues of Plato provide a (fairly) accurate representation

of Socrates himself.

Euthyphro: What is Piety?

In the Ευθυφρων (Euthyphro), for

example, Socrates engaged in a sharply critical

conversation with an over-confident young man. Finding

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Euthyphro perfectly certain of his own ethical rectitude

even in the morally ambiguous situation of prosecuting his

own father in court, Socrates asks him to define what

"piety" (moral duty) really is. The demand here is for

something more than merely a list of which actions are, in

fact, pious; instead, Euthyphro is supposed to provide a

general definition that captures the very essence of what

piety is. But every answer he offers is subjected to the full

force of Socrates's critical thinking, until nothing certain

remains.

Apology: The Examined Life

Because of his political associations with an earlier

regime, the Athenian democracy put Socrates on trial,

charging him with undermining state religion and

corrupting young people. The speech he offered in his own

defense, as reported in Plato's Απολογημα (Apology),

provides us with many reminders of the central features of

Socrates's approach to philosophy and its relation to

practical life.

Ironic Modesty:

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"No one is wiser than you." (Apology   21a ) He then

proceeds through a series of ironic descriptions of his

efforts to disprove the oracle by conversing with notable

Athenians who must surely be wiser.

Questioning Habit:

The goal of Socratic interrogation, then, is to help

individuals to achieve genuine self-knowledge, even if it

often turns out to be negative in character. If the method

rarely succeeds with interlocutors, it can nevertheless be

effectively internalized as a dialectical mode of reasoning

in an effort to understand everything.

Devotion to Truth:

Socrates declines to abandon his pursuit of the truth in all

matters. He maintains that public discussion of the great

issues of life and virtue is a necessary part of any valuable

human life. "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Socrates would rather die than give up philosophy, and the

jury seems happy to grant him that wish.

Dispassionate Reason:

Even when the jury has sentenced him to death, Socrates

calmly delivers his final public words, a speculation about

what the future holds. Who really wins will remain unclear.

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Crito: The Individual and the State

Plato's description of Socrates's final days continued in

the Κριτων (Crito). Now in prison awaiting execution,

Socrates displays the same spirit of calm reflection about

serious matters that had characterized his life in freedom.

Of course Crito and the others know their teacher well, and

they come prepared to argue the merits of their plan.

Socrates's argument proceeds from the statement of a

perfectly general moral principle to its application in his

particular case:

One ought never to do wrong (even in response to the evil

committed by another).

But it is always wrong to disobey the state.

Hence, one ought never to disobey the state.

In fact, Socrates pictures the laws of Athens proposing

two independent lines of argument in favor of this claim:

First, the state is to us as a parent is to a child, and since

it is always wrong for a child to disobey a parent, it follows

that it is always wrong to disobey the state. (Crito   50e) The

second argument is that it is always wrong to break an

agreement, and since continuing to live voluntarily in a

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state constitutes an agreement to obey it, it is wrong to

disobey that state. (Crito   52e). Explicit agreements to obey

some authority are common enough—in a matriculation

pledge or a contract of employment, for example—but

most of us have not entered into any such agreement with

our government. Our choice of where to live is entirely

subject to our individual voluntary control.

III. INSIGHT

Of all philosophers, why Socrates? Simply because he’s

more than enough, I like the way how they made his life so

mysterious that they even questions his existence.

Regardless of the rumors about his existence, we already

knew what’s on the mind of this master, “True knowledge

exists in knowing that you know nothing”, let’s set this

quote of him as an example, in my own perspective the

reason why Socrates didn’t leave anything that traces his

life because, he knows that when people know nothing they

tend to ask question about the existence of everything and

by that small step it will come to a point that the answers

will lead to Socrates. I can’t say that Socrates owe his

popularity to his scholars because in the first place Socrates

didn’t instructed them to spread all his contribution, it’s

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like a matter of their choice, wherein come to think of it

each one of them can claim the works of their teacher, but

they choose to present the contributions together with the

name Socrates in it. “The unexamined life is not worth

living”, honestly speaking it’s only now that I know about

this quote of Socrates, first time that I read this was the

time when I got this subject, and I was inspired and

embolden by this quote because at this very moment the

time that I am seeking my true happiness, and my real self,

this quote comes and boost the fire of my curiosity to

continue the path that I am longing for. The time that I will

be examining my life until I find the so-called HAPPINESS

and CONTENTMENT in life. Socrates possess not only

humility, no! Instead of humility it is freedom that he gave

us on how are we going to judge himself even at this

modern times. I chose Socrates because of his firmness and

unhesitant decision of giving and ending his life to protect

his philosophy, also the fact that he is the beginning and

foundation of learnings in philosophy and ethics that made

Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes and Xenophon formulate

their studies through his teachings. The beginning of

realizations and depth of life was initiated by no other than

the “The father of Western Philosophy”, for he is the

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wisest man alive, for he knows one thing and that is he

knows nothing”, SOCRATES.

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