Socrates And His Philosophical Works

SOCRATES' LIFE AND DEATH

Socrates was born in Athens in 470 B.C. His father's name was Sophronicus, a sculptor and mason, and his mother Phaenarate was a midwife. He served as a hoplite ( a heavy armed soldier) in many Athenian campaigns and wars. He was a robust man with great powers of physical endurance. His family apparently had the moderate wealth required to launch Socrates’ career as a hoplite (foot soldier). As an infantryman, Socrates showed great physical endurance and courage, rescuing Alcibiades during the siege of Potidaea in 432 B.C. Through the 420s, Socrates was deployed for several battles in the Peloponnesian War, but also spent enough time in Athens to become known and beloved by the city’s youth. In 423 he was introduced to the broader public as a caricature in Aristophanes’ play “Clouds,” which depicted him as an unkempt buffoon whose philosophy amounted to teaching rhetorical tricks for getting out of debt. Plato pictures him as "a man with a deep sense of mission and absolute moral purity.

Socrates is viewed by many as the founding father of Western philosophy. He is equally seen as the most exemplary and the strangest of the Greek philosophers. He grew up during the golden age of Pericles’ Athens, served with distinction as a soldier, but became best known as a questioner of everything and everyone. Many Athenians mistook him for a Sophist because of his relentless analysis of any and every subject- a technique eqaully employed by the Sophists. Although he never outrightly rejected the standard Athenian view of religion, Socrates' beliefs were more of nonconformist. He often referred to God rather than the gods, and reported being guided by an inner divine voice.

His style of teaching- The Socratic Method—involved not only conveying knowledge but rather asking question after clarifying question until his students arrived at their own understanding. 

Notably, in military campaigns, Socrates could go without food longer than anyone else. He was capable of intense concentration. It was reported that on one occasion he stood in deep contemplation for a day and night. He frequently received messages from a mysterious voice. He had the capacity of self denial and he commanded respect by his simplicity.

Socrates wrote nothing himself, so all that is known about him is gotten from the writings of a few of his contemporaries and followers, most of all, his student Plato.

In 399 B.C, he was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and sentenced to death. Choosing not to flee, he spent his final days in the company of his friends before drinking the executioner’s cup of poisonous hemlock.

As a youth, he showed an appetite for learning. Plato describes him eagerly acquiring the writings of the leading contemporary philosopher Anaxagoras and says he was taught rhetoric by Aspasia, the talented mistress of the great Athenian leader Pericles.