Tag Archives: Socrates

Arts, History, Philosophy

(Philosophy) Essential Thinkers: Socrates

c. 470 – 399BC

Socrates

Socrates: ‘The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.’

SOCRATES lived through times of great political upheaval in his birthplace of Athens, a city which would eventually make him a scapegoat for its troubles and ultimately demand his life. Much of what is known about Socrates comes through the works of his one-time pupil Plato, for Socrates himself was an itinerant philosopher who taught solely by means of public discussion and oratory and never wrote any philosophical works of his own.

Unlike the Greek philosophers before him, Socrates was less concerned with abstract metaphysical ponderings than with practical questions of how we ought to live, and what is the good life of man. Consequently, he is often hailed as the inventor of that branch of philosophy known as ethics. It is precisely his concern with ethical matters that often led him into conflict with the city elders, who would accuse him of disrupting and corrupting the minds of sons of the wealthy elite with revolutionary and unorthodox ideas.

 

SOCRATES was certainly a maverick, often claiming to the consternation of his interlocutors that the only thing he was sure of was his own ignorance. Indeed, much of his teaching consisted in asking his audience to define various common ideas and notions, such as ‘beauty’, or ‘the good’, or ‘piety’, only to show through reasoned argument that all the proposed definitions and common conceptions lead to paradox or absurdity. Some of his contemporaries thought this technique disingenuous, and that Socrates knew more than he was letting on. However, Socrates’ method was meant to provide salutary lessons in the dangers of uncritical acceptance of orthodoxy. He often railed against, and made dialectic victims of, those who claimed to have certain knowledge of some particular subject. It is chiefly through the influence of Socrates that philosophy developed into the modern discipline of continuous critical reflection. The greatest danger to both society and individual, we learn from Socrates, is the suspension of critical thought.

 

LOVED by the city’s aristocratic youth, Socrates inevitably developed many enemies throughout his lifetime. In his seventieth year, after Athens had gone through several changes of leadership and failing fortunes, Socrates was brought to trial on charges of ‘corrupting the youth’ and ‘not believing in the city gods’. The charges were brought principally to persuade Socrates to renounce his provocative public speaking and convince the citizens of Athens that the new leadership had a tight rein on law and order. With a plea of guilty he might perhaps have walked away from the trial and lived out the rest of his life as a private citizen. However, in characteristic style, he robustly defended himself, haranguing his accusers and claiming that god himself had sent him on a mission to practice and teach philosophy. When asked, upon being found guilty, what penalty he thought he should receive, Socrates mocked the court by suggesting a trifling fine of only 30 minae. Outraged, a greater majority voted for Socrates to be put to death by the drinking of hemlock than had originally voted him guilty. Unperturbed, Socrates readily agreed to abide by the laws of his city and forbade his family from asking for a stay of execution.

Socrates’ trial, death and final speeches are wonderfully captured by Plato in his dialogues Apology, Crito and Phaedo.

. See also Philosophy: An introduction…

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Arts, History, Philosophy, Science

Quantum Leaps: Plato

Portrait of Plato. Luni marble. Roman copy after a Greek original of Silanion. Inv. No. MC 1377. Rome, Capitoline Museums, Museum Montemartini.

Copy after the statue created by the renowned portrait-sculptor Silanion. The original, commissioned by Mithridates, was dedicated to the Muses in the Academy, seat of the philosophical school founded by Plato in Athens.

c. 427 – 347 BC

To understand how Plato came to the conclusions which have exercised such a profound impact on Western thinking, it is necessary to understand his own influences. Born in or around Athens at a time when the city-state was flourishing as one of the most dominant and culturally enlightened places on earth, he was strongly affected by the arguments of another great philosopher, Socrates, who also lived there. Socrates’ approach was to constantly strive for clearer definitions of words and people’s perceptions of those words in order to get nearer to ‘the truth’ that lay behind their often irritational and ill-thought-out use of them. This introduced to Plato the notion of ‘reality’ being distorted by human perceptions, which would become important in his approach to science and, in particular, metaphysics.

. Socrates’ Influence

Socrates’ was executed in 399 BC for allegedly ‘corrupting’ the youth of Athens with his ‘rebellious’ ideas. Reacting to this, Plato fled the city-state and began a tour of many countries which would last more than a decade. On his travels, he encountered a group of people who would become another major influence, the Pythagoreans. Begun by their founder Pythagoras, the school of disciples in Croton continued to promote their ‘all is number’ approach to everything.

. The Theory of Forms

The combination of these two major forces on Plato – plus, of course, his own work – brought him to his Theory of Forms, his main legacy to scientific thought. This consisted of an argument that nature, as seen through human eyes, was merely a flawed version of true ‘reality’ or ‘forms’; in an instructive metaphor, he compares humanity with cave dwellers, who live facing the back wall of the cave. What they perceive as reality, is merely the shadows thrown out by the sun. There is, therefore, little to be learnt from direct observation of them. For Plato, there had always existed an eternal, underlying mathematical form and order to the universe, and what humans saw were merely glimpses of it, usually corrupted by their own irrational perceptions and prejudices about the way things ‘are’.

Consequently, for Plato, like the Pythagoreans, the only valid approach to science was a rational, mathematical one which sought to establish universal truths irrespective of the human condition. This validation of the numerical method strongly impacted on science; disciples following in its tradition ‘made’ discoveries by mathematical prediction. For example, arithmetic calculations would suggest that future discoveries would have particular properties, in the case of unknown elements in Dmitry Mendeleev’s first periodic table for instance, and subsequent investigative work by scientists would prove the mathematics to be true. It is an approach still used by scientists today.

. The Academy

Plato also helped to influence scientific thought in a much more physical sense by founding an Academy on his return to Athens in 387 BC. Some commentators claim this institute to be the first European university, and certainly its founding principles as a school for the systematic search for scientific and philosophical knowledge were consistent with such an establishment. Plato’s influence was pervasive; it is said there was inscription over the entrance to the institute which read, ‘Let no one enter here who is ignorant of geometry.’ Over the subsequent centuries, the Athenian Academy became recognised as the leading authority in mathematics, astronomy, science and philosophy, amongst other subjects. It survived for nearly a thousand years until the Roman emperor Justinian shut it down in 529 AD, around the time the Dark Ages began.

. The Legacy of Plato

Plato is best remembered today as one of the greatest philosophers of the Western tradition. He might not, therefore, be an obvious candidate for inclusion in any compendium of famous or influential scientists. But in exactly the same way that the influence of Plato’s work stretched into many other academic areas such as education, literature, political thought, epistemology and aesthetics, so it is the case with his science.

Although Plato’s scientific and philosophical knowledge has undergone significant revival and reinterpretation over the course of history, his logical approach to science remains influential, standing testament to his far-reaching ideas.

‘Geometry existed before creation.’ – Plato

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Arts, History, Philosophy

Quantum Leaps: Socrates, ‘Academic and essential thinker’…

PLATO’S UNDERLING?

SOCRATES (c.470-399 BC) lived through times of great political upheaval in his birthplace of Athens, a city which would eventually make him a scapegoat for its troubles and ultimately demand his life. Much of what is known about Socrates comes through the works of his one-time pupil Plato, for Socrates himself was an itinerant philosopher who taught solely by means of public discussion and oratory. He never wrote any philosophical works of his own.

Unlike the Greek philosophers before him, Socrates was less concerned with abstract metaphysical ponderings than with practical questions of how we ought to live, and what the good life is for man. Consequently, he is often hailed as the inventor of that branch of philosophy known as ethics. It is precisely his concern with ethical matters that often led him into conflict with the city elders, who would accuse him of disrupting and corrupting the minds of sons of the wealthy elite with revolutionary and unorthodox ideas.

Socrates was certainly a maverick often claiming to the consternation of his interlocutors that the only thing he was sure of was his own ignorance. Indeed, much of his teaching consisted in asking his audience to define various common ideas and notions, such as ‘beauty’, or the ‘good’, or ‘piety’, only to show through reasoned argument that all of the proposed definitions and common conceptions lead directly to paradox or absurdity. Some of his contemporaries thought this technique disingenuous, and that Socrates knew more than he was letting on. However, his method was meant to provide salutary lessons in the dangers of uncritical acceptance of orthodoxy. He often railed against, and made dialectic victims of, those who claimed to have certain knowledge of some particular subject.

Bust of Socrates – Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. He is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy.

Bust of Socrates – Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. He is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy.

Socrates taught his pupils to think for themselves. He created a teaching method known today as the ‘Socratic Method’, which promotes clear thinking, and by questioning their currently accepted ways of thinking. He demanded that these accepted ways be questioned.

It is chiefly through the influence of Socrates that philosophy developed into the modern discipline of continuous critical reflection. Suspension of critical thought, Socrates said, is the biggest threat to society and the individual. How true that is of the practices used by religious and political leaders not wishing to be questioned on matters of principle who regard themselves as sacrosanct or, at times, infallible on ‘interpretation’.

Loved by the city’s aristocratic youth, Socrates inevitably developed many enemies throughout his lifetime. In his seventieth year, or thereabouts, after Athens had gone through several changes of leadership and failing fortunes, Socrates was brought to trial on charges of ‘corrupting the youth’. It would seem that the charges were brought principally to persuade Socrates in renouncing his provocative public speeches and that by convincing the citizens of Athens that the new leadership had a tight rein on law and order. Socrates was also indicted on charges of ‘not believing in the city gods’. With a plea of guilty he might perhaps have walked away from the trial and lived out the rest of his life as a private citizen.

However, in characteristic style, he robustly defended himself, haranguing his accusers and claiming that god himself had sent him on a mission to practice and teach philosophy. When asked, upon being found guilty, what penalty he thought he should receive, Socrates mocked the court by suggesting, brazenly, a trifling fine of only 30 minae. Outraged, a greater majority voted for Socrates to be put to death by the drinking of hemlock than had originally voted him guilty.

Unperturbed, Socrates readily agreed to abide by the laws of his city and forbade his family and friends from asking for a stay of execution.

Socrates trial, death and final speeches are wonderfully captured by Plato in his dialogues Apology, Crito and Phaedo.

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