Socrates Biographical Information
Socrates was born in 470 BCE Alopece located in Athens, Ancient Greece. Socrates didn’t come from a rich background, for his father was a stonemason and his mother was a midwife. During his childhood, the Athenian city was at its max in both power and acuity within the Greek domain. The city had an oligarchy for government at the time and the city was filled with entertainment such as music and art and updating perspectives of playwrights which added more emotional appeal and realism along with relatability to the content. Socrates was a boy that loved learning new things and had a never ending crave for knowledge, he examined famous philosophers with their ideals and studied with a skillful mistress to grasp concepts of topics within the area of philosophy and others like it. Not much was really known about Socrates earlier years in youth, apart from how he joined his father’s trade, after his mother remarried, he gained a half-brother, and later joins the Peloponnesian War. He made quite a name for himself after the war, he was enlisted as a hoplite and withstood great tribulation, mentally and physically. In Symposium, it describes the features and the role in the war that Socrates played in. It is said that when he returned, he dismissed all the questions regarding the Peloponnesian war which was asked by his relatives and disciples. Later, in his life he got married to a woman named Xanthippie which gave birth to three of his sons; Lamprocles, Sophroniscus, and Menexenus.
Socrates Way of Teaching Philosophy
After the war Socrates took on the occupation as a teacher. Socrates started to become more recognized especially by the city’s youth due to his teaching methods and how he ran the class. His way of teaching was unique compared to the ways many of the other teachers used at the time with their students. When teaching he didn’t use lectures or sermons, instead, when teaching he used inquiry and then proceeded to break down and analyze hypothetical answers that could be conceived, so that the students could obtain further comprehension of the subjects being taught. Another thing that was found unique about Socrates way of teaching was that he didn’t really care for behavior or the status groups the youths were in within his class. Though it was unique and favored by the youth it was starting to become problematic to those in authority. In year 406 he became a member of a group called the Boule which is trusted to deal with local affairs that happens daily. One case came up that dealt with the generals of the Athenian army being brought to trial for unsuccessfully rescuing the surviving sailors in the middle of a storm. Socrates so happen to be the one to be there for the trial, in which he tried to help them, but he declared that he could do nothing which was opposed by the law, being exceeded the generals unfortunately were sent to death. Socrates usually tried to stay out of politics, but after the trials and the fall of the government he didn’t accept democracy. He in fact criticized it greatly continuously finding faults within the system. And unfortunately, his criticism and ideas gained him many enemies ultimately leading to his demise.
Socrates Trials and Death
Socrates was charged with two crimes; corrupting the youth and impiety. The crimes and charges were mostly personal. For example, he would often go around unwashed and poorly dressed whilst questioning those who were thought to be astute which would often leave them feeling and looking ignorant. Another example would be when one of his students were so stimulated with his teachings that he wanted to further study philosophy rather than continue his learning in politics leaving his parents disappointed and angered. To address the other crime, impiety, he deemed the gods that the Greeks had put forth faith in were only partially aware of the things occurring in people’s lives. He also thought that they didn’t really offer exact imperative. Socrates also didn’t make it any better by electing those by ballot, who were good in a situation and can absolutely help with that situation rather than merit, the characteristics that make a person worthy of a high position. With the two crimes put against him, his penalty was to be put to death. Luckily his death was delayed due to a festival, in which this case he could have eluded his death and get away, but instead he stayed to accept and face the penalty head on even when those who were close to him, like his students and family members begged him to flee. The last of his months and days were spent locked in a cell. Upon the day he was to die, he was given a Hemlock to drink and was asked to walk around until his legs were to give out. Until the poison was to reach to his heart and kill him. Socrates died in the year 399. His last words were “Crio, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Please, don’t forget to pay the debt.”
The Legacy of Socrates
Socrates has taught and invested his time in multiple studies that changed and helped philosophy. He focused more on the topic of ethics to a greater extent than his other subjects of teaching. He believed that the close and inner examination was vital and important. Which was uncommon for a philosopher in his time, most philosophers were curious about the world rather than the human individual. The most famous of his teaching would be the “Socratic Method”. The method consisted of a strategy in which you would break down the issue or a problem and analyze it by using a multitude of questions. This method was also meant to help interpret a person’s individual worth and beliefs. He also taught, within his beliefs, that one’s decisions were initially made to act as a motivation or an ambition for inner happiness. He also put in a lot of attention to the realistic performances and accomplishments of society. Socrates believed that societies systems should be based off dogma; the ideas, established opinions, and principles of beliefs and not the theological system; which is the studies of and analysis that compliments and follows Gods will and other attributions relating to the universe. We only know of his teachings and possible beliefs through his students, the most famous of them were Plato and Xenophon, who wrote of his interesting and unique lessons taught from Socrates. Though it’s difficult to tell accurately how much of it was Socrates ideas and how much consisted of the ideas from the students trying to get their ideas across using Socrates beliefs.
Conclusion
Socrates renovated and improved philosophy for the best using his past experiences and recent observations in his life. He created and formed the “fundamentals” of Western Philosophy by touching, explaining and justifying subjects such as; pedology, logic, epistemology, the Socratic Method, and the field of ethics to his students and many others. Even after his hardships with the war, the trials dealing with the Athenian generals, and sadly his very own trial and death, he continued to influence people and encouraged them. Even when he had the chance to leave and escape death, he still stood by it and faced it head on with only a few words which even left those in charge of his penalty uneasy. We learn so much from the topics he directed and so did many others of his past like Plato and Aristotle and Xenophon.
