Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.)
In his use of critical reasoning, by
his unwavering commitment to truth, and through the vivid example of his own
life, fifth-century Athenian Socrates set the standard for all subsequent
Western philosophy. Since he left no literary legacy of his own, we are
dependent upon contemporary writers like Aristophanes and Xenophon for our
information about his life and work. As a pupil of Archelaus during his youth,
Socrates showed a great deal of interest in the scientific theories of
Anaxagoras, but he later abandoned inquiries into the physical world for a
dedicated investigation of the development of moral character. Having served
with some distinction as a soldier at Delium and Amphipolis during the
Peloponnesian War, Socrates dabbled in the political turmoil that consumed
Athens after the War, then retired from active life to work as a stonemason and
to raise his children with his wife, Xanthippe. After inheriting a modest
fortune from his father, the sculptor Sophroniscus, Socrates used his marginal
financial independence as an opportunity to give full-time attention to
inventing the practice of philosophical dialogue. For the rest of his life,
Socrates devoted himself to free-wheeling discussion with the aristocratic young
citizens of Athens, insistently questioning their unwarranted confidence in the
truth of popular opinions, even though he often offered them no clear
alternative teaching. Unlike the professional Sophists of the time, Socrates
pointedly declined to accept payment for his work with students, but despite
(or, perhaps, because) of this lofty disdain for material success, many of them
were fanatically loyal to him. Their parents, however, were often displeased
with his influence on their offspring, and his earlier association with
opponents of the democratic regime had already made him a controversial
political figure. Interacting with an arrogantly confident young man in Euqufrwn
(Euthyphro), for example, Socrates systematically refutes the superficial notion
of piety (moral rectitude) as doing whatever is pleasing to the gods. Efforts to
define morality by reference to any external authority, he argued, inevitably
founder in a significant logical dilemma about the origin of the good. Plato's
Apologhma (Apology) is an account of Socrates's (unsuccessful) speech in his own
defense before the Athenian jury; it includes a detailed description of the
motives and goals of philosophical activity as he practiced it, together with a
passionate declaration of its value for life. The Kritwn (Crito) reports that
during Socrates's imprisonment he responded to friendly efforts to secure his
escape by seriously debating whether or not it would be right for him to do so.
Most remarkably, Socrates argues here that knowledge and virtue are so closely
related that no human agent ever knowingly does evil: we all invariably do what
we believe to be best. Improper conduct, then, can only be a product of our
ignorance rather than a symptom of weakness of the will {Gk. akrasia [akrásia]}.
The same view is also defended in the PrwtagoraV (Protagoras), along with the
belief that all of the virtues must be cultivated together.
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