Socrates Play Clouds Essay

Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own

Socrates has a unique position in the history of philosophy. On one hand he is the most influential on another he is the least known. In his later life he is seen to stalk the streets barefoot, to spite shoemakers. He went about arguing and questioning people and revealing inconsistencies in their beliefs. He began teaching students but never accepted payments for doing so. This was possible because of the inheritance left by his father. Socrates wrote nothing of himself so we are dependent upon the works of both his students and associates who present a view as close to

Socrates was alleged of two offenses and thus was charged by the Athenian government of impiety (rejecting the gods of the city) and also for corrupting the youth. Socrates in his life will always be in the marketplace and gathering youths through his catchy topics which range from politics and ethical matters, his rhetorical skills in debates was also appealing this was what he used in critiquing the leaders who flaunt their rhetorical skills. He uses his continuous questioning skill which can also be called Socratic wisdom to question their ignorance till they get into a state of aporia that is a state of confusion whereby can no longer defend what they claim to know due to shortage or inadequate points or arguments. Socrates claimed that he was only helping the youth birth their ideas or potentials into fruition by questioning them thus sharpening their rhetorical abilities. This was the idea behind his so-called intellectual midwifery.

Elenchus, as a famous Socratic method for education, uses dialogue and questions to approach philosophical truths. The method is presented in both Plato’s the Euthyphro and Aristophanes’s the Clouds. However, Socrates’s personal image and characteristics, as well as the nature of his questioning differ a lot in these two works. While the Euthyphro presents a philosopher king guiding the less wise people in discovery of truths, Socrates in the Clouds has little interest in either exploring the ethical truth or helping others get out of “Plato’s cave”. Instead, he is portrayed as a sophist who corrupts people with mysterious and useless knowledge, ignores traditional Athenian education, and debilitates Athenian men. Compared to Plato’s focus on Socrates’s wisdom reflected in the dialogue, the Clouds is a distorted interpretation of Socrates’s elenchus. Rather than justifiably criticizing Socrates, Aristophanes depicts him from a common Athenian 's perspective. It is this misunderstanding of the value of Socrates’s teaching by Athenian citizens that constitutes the failure of elenchus in both the Clouds and the Euthyphro.

Socrates; the founder of Western Philosophy, the first user of the Socratic method and Socratic irony, contributor to the field of ethics, and martyr for teaching what he thought was right. Indeed, Socrates is a household name, yet the picture many hold of Socrates may not be true to who Socrates actually was. Socrates considered himself a teacher and a thinker, not a writer, thus he wrote none of his teachings or thoughts down. As a consequence, the only surviving accounts of Socrates come second hand from his pupils, Plato and Xenophon, and from the playwright Aristophanes. However, it is difficult to tell how much of the Socrates depicted in the works of those men is embellishment or outright fabrication, and how much is truth. This problem, the Socratic Problem, has been troubling historians and philosophers for centuries, and will go on doing so. While the real Socrates may never be known, Socrates the character may be studied extensively through the works of his pupils. Plato’s Symposium depicts Socrates in an informal setting, getting drunk with friends, and offers an opportunity to see Socrates’ character and personality more clearly. While Symposium is set at a party, Socrates is still shown to be a larger-than-life, idealized character, who may have been too brilliant and perfect to be true.

Socrates was born in Athens in 469 B.C.E. He had a son that was not known to many people. Very little is known about Socrates early life, but we know we he was taught by a pupil by his father. Until the age of 40, we have zero evidence on what happened during his life in that life

Socrates is one of the most popular philosophers of all the times. He was the first to study ethics and principles of morality and he always claimed that he did not put knowledge in anyone, yet asked serious questions which contributed to numerous debates (Class notes). Despite his high intellectual level, Athens condemned him with several charges such as the corruption of youth as the society of this time viewed secular knowledge as an obstruction to the achievement of spiritual enlightenment (Class notes.) After his death and his famous trial, Socrates’s philosophy had an enormous impact on the Western Civilization. Socrates’ philosophy could be found in Plato’s works. For example, The Republic written in a form of discussion is an influential book that contributes to several debates. Even if some argue about the validity and accuracy of Plato’s works regarding Socrates’ philosophy, those works allow us to conclude that Socrates was devoted and dedicated to truth. Socrates was concerned with the immutable universal concept of truth, goodness, and justice and thus, wanted to transmit and instore those principles to the city of Athens.

Throughout the world’s history, there have been civilizations that have come and gone. These civilizations are represented to the world today by leaders and their ideals of those times. One such leader was a person of thought from the city-state Athens in Greece. (7) This person was Socrates, “the quintessential philosopher, the seeker and conveyor of wisdom.” (8) Paul Johnson states, “Such a man is well worth knowing about, and for 2,500 years the learned and intellectually enterprising in all countries have sought to know him.” (8) But what is really known about a man who lived thousands of years ago and who left no written record of himself. The starting point to understand Socrates and his thoughts are through the words of his pupils. (8-9) Socrates was a philosopher whose ideals changed the world around him and have an effect the world today.

Socrates spent his time questioning people about things like virtue, justice, piety and truth. The people Socrates questioned are the people that condemned him to death. Socrates was sentenced to death because people did not like him and they wanted to shut him up for good. There was not any real evidence against Socrates to prove the accusations against him. Socrates was condemned for three major reasons: he told important people exactly what he thought of them, he questioned ideas that had long been the norm, the youth copied his style of questioning for fun, making Athenians think Socrates was teaching the youth to be rebellious. But these reasons were not the charges against him, he was charged with being an atheist and

Aristophanes’ Clouds, if read hastily, can be interpreted as a mindless satyr play written in 419 BCE. Yet the chorus warns the reader not to expect the play to have farcical ploys like “a hanging phallus stitched on” the actors to evoke a laugh, but to take note of underlying seriousness as “she [the play] comes in trusting only her words” (Clouds 538-44). Even if the play does use some low devices, the play’s message is sophisticated and can be read as a warning to Socrates. Aristophanes is a “friendly critic” of Socrates and warns Socrates to change his ways for Athens and for the good of himself (Whidden). Plato’s Symposium and especially his Apology of Socrates does not discount the claims made in Clouds about the dangers of

In the Clouds, Aristophanes attacks Socrates using comedy and exaggeration to craft a fictionalized version of the philosopher that his audience can feel justified in making fun of. Comedy was a very common form of drama in Ancient Greece, and Aristophanes was one of the great comic writers of the time. Comic plays such as the Clouds were performed in competitions and festivals, and often satirized political figures or groups of people that were relevant at the time. In this case, Aristophanes satirizes the group of philosophers known as sophists, as well as the

“Socrates’ positive influence touches us even today” (May 6) and we can learn a great deal about him from one of his students, Plato. It is in Plato’s report of Socrates’ trial a work entitled, Apology, and a friend’s visit to his jail cell while he is awaiting his death in Crito, that we discover a man like no other. Socrates was a man following a path he felt that the gods had wanted him to follow and made no excuses for his life and they way he lived it.

Socrates was a Greek philosopher and the main source of Western thought. He was born circa 470 BC, in Athens, Greece and also through the writings of his students, Plato and Xenophon we of his life. Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, an Athenian sculptor and stone maker, and Phaenarete, a midwife. Because he was not from a superior family, he got a basic Greek education and learned his father 's craft at a young age. Before Socrates devoted his life to philosophy, it is believed he worked as a mason for many years. Socrates married Xanthippe, a younger woman and they had three sons Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus. Furthermore, the Athenian law required all able bodied males serve as citizen soldiers for duty from ages 18 until they were 60. According to Plato, Socrates served in the armoured infantry known as the hoplite with shield, face mask and long spear. He participated in three military campaigns during the Peloponnesian War, at Delium, and Potidaea, Amphipolis where he saved the life of Alcibiades, a popular Athenian general.

Socrates was born Athens in the year (469 – 399) BCE. Socrates hadn’t wrote anything about his life. However his student wrote down his life and ideas. The main student who wrote about Socrates is Plato. Socrates was a son of Sophroniscus. Socrates raised in a poor family, so he learned the basic Greek education and then moved to be a stone man like his father work. He worked as craft man for many years before he advocated his life to be an Athens philosopher Socrates. (2015). In addition, Socrates was a solider in the Athenian army. He participated in three military campaigns during the Peloponnesian War, at Delium, Amphipolis, and

The philosopher Socrates was born 470 BC, in Athens, Greece. He worked as a stone mason for years before finding out that he loved philosophy. His family did not support his job change because it left him and his family in poverty. One of his students Plato says the Socrates would not accept any kind of payment, being the reason for his poverty. Socrates was said to have always taught about the importance of the mind and the unimportance of the body. He thought that philosophy should get practical results, for the greater good of the human race.