SOCRATES OF ATHENS
It may come as a surprise to some that in ancient Greece people paid little attention to family names. Thus even though there may have been other persons named Socrates in Athens in those days, since the famous philosopher did indeed become famous, all that was necessary as a designation was “Socrates of Athens.” We do not know very much about the great philosopher other than that he was the spoke-person for Plato’s philosophy in most of the latter’s writings, even though it is not certain that Socrates would have always agreed with Plato. Nonetheless, most of what we know about Socrates as a person we learn from various historians of his day.
He was born into an aristocratic family, served with distinction in both the army and the Senate, and retired around the age of 70 to become an itinerate teacher of young Athenian boys. He had a wife named Xantippe and several children, one born when he was nearing 70 years of age. He spent his final years defending himself before the Athenian Parliament against the charges that he was a heretic who misled the Athenian youths. His primary accuser was a man named Miletus. The basic drama of this trial was recorded by Plato in his famous Apology. He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to death. His last days as a prisoner, as well as the account of death, are reported in Plato’s Crito and Phaedo.
From a political and historical point of view the most important thing to bear in mind is that in reality Socrates was being tried as a scapegoat for the defeat of Athens by the Spartans in their war a few years earlier. At its heart, this trial was also a kind of payback for the impact of Socrates’ manner of teaching and the fact that he taught in the streets without collecting any fees. In this latter matter he stood out against the other free-lance teachers, such as the Sophists, who charged significant fees for their efforts. In reality it was Socrates’ manner of teaching that confused and angered his enemies. In his defense Socrates claimed that he had been stimulated to begin his teaching career by the Oracle at Delphi’s statement that “Socrates of Athens is the wisest man of all.” Socrates said that he had set out to prove the oracle wrong by finding at least one person in Athens who was wiser than himself.
When we turn to his manner of teaching we arrive at the heart of who and what Socrates really was. His method is, in fact, called “The Socratic method,” and it involves the serious and relentless of asking one crucial question after another until one arrives at a satisfactory answer. It is of course, true that this method of searching for knowledge can be long and arduous. Indeed, Plato’s dialogues, in which he sought both to illustrate and apply Socrates’ method, often seem endless and overly complex. They begin innocently enough, with Socrates or one of his friends asking a question about the nature of truth, knowledge, or goodness, and then diving into a long, convoluted discussion of the various possibilities and ramifications thereof. Along the way Socrates often offers a few specific concerns and insights, sometimes even about side-issues, which to him seem pertinent.
Scholars are of mixed opinions as to how much of these conversations actually took place, as well as to how much of what we are told what Socrates said he actually did say. Surely a great deal of their content was the work of Plato himself expressing his own ideas. Indeed, it is pretty much agreed that most of such books as the Republic and the Timaeus seem far too theoretic to serve as common representatives of Socrates’ own thoughts. It is clear, however, that the dialogical pattern of Plato’s dialogues does represent the sort of posture that Socrates would have struck when approaching the various issues in question. The crucial thing about the so-called “Socratic method” of teaching has to do with the movement from one question or issue to the next after the initial problem has been focused.
In one dialogue, for example, the Euthyphro, Socrates encounters his friend Euthyphro on his way to “see justice done” by having his own father jailed for killing a man. Socrates detains him with a series of questions about the meaning of the term ‘justice’, etc. until finally Euthyphro runs off complaining that all these questions only confuse the issue. The issue of the value of all these questions is presented directly when Socrates is asked later on in the Republic how he knows that asking and answering questions will lead to knowledge. He answers, in effect, that he is sure that if we keep asking questions and seeking their answers “we shall be better and wiser people.”
At one point in his defense against the charges presented against him by Miletus Socrates makes the following statement: “Wickedness runs faster than death.” I have always found this remark to be as deep as it is seemingly paradoxical. His point was clearly that the claims and accusations of those who were accusing him of being an “enemy of the state” were driven by vengeful, wicked motives. To say that wickedness “runs faster than death” is to say that wickedness is worse than death, indeed outlives it. The expression “out runs” carries far more clout than does “out lasts death” because it cannot be erased by it. Socrates said this knowing that he himself was facing certain death at the hands of the government, but knowing as well that its evil will still be present long after both he and his accusers are dead. Somehow for me the phrase “runs faster than death” carries far more clout than something like “lasts longer” would. In my mind it is this insight that renders Socrates of Athens to be more wise than his contemporaries, and even our own.