Socrates saw himself as a "physician of the soul." When he talks about being someone that cares for the soul, he means he is a teacher who is teaching others to become good thinkers and an ethical person. He believed it was very important to continually learn and improve yourself because your soul is eternal. Socrates spent his whole life teaching that the unexamined life is not worth living, that the truth lies within each of us, we should strive for excellence in all areas of life, no one knowingly does evil, and it is better to suffer wickedness than to commit it. He says in The Apology written by
Socrates, at the other end of the spectrum, saw politics as a wasted venture for him because his life was devoted to a quest for knowledge. He stated his way of life, which conflicts with that of Pericles' model, to differ from that of the democratic system of Athens because he saw the government to be corrupt and the majority to not be just. Socrates did not bother to lead a life of servitude to the ideals of the state because he showed through his actions that an unexamined life without critical thinking was not a life at all. As is made clear by the admittance of Socrates himself, his defense plea is the first time he has appeared in a court of law, even by the age of seventy. Socrates' life was dedicated to the pursuit of further comprehension and debate with the Athenian people on the deeper issues of life, not to a court
Socrates was an orator and philosopher whose primary interests were logic, ethics and epistemology. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Plato recounts the speech that Socrates gave shortly before his death, during the trial in 399 BC in which he was charged with "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, also being a busybody and intervene gods business". The name of the work itself is not mean what it is appeared; here, Socrates is not apologizing, but merely speaking in defense of his beliefs and actions – the word apology is used in the context of its original meaning. During this apology, Socrates attempts to explain himself and the decisions
Throughout his entire life, to the moment he died, he did his best to help the people around him. He wanted them to think and make correct moral decisions. “Athens, one of the world’s earliest democracies, raised Socrates, educated him and finally sentenced him to death, having found him guilty of religious unorthodoxy and corrupting the young” (Wilson 2).
During his lifetime Socrates’ various interactions with his fellow Athenians left his intentions debatable. Popular belief in Athens seemed to be that, “he [Socrates] was an evildoer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven¸ and makes the worse appear the better cause” (Plato, pg. 5) as stated by the unofficial charges against him in The Apology. After discussions, his interlocutor’s were left confused in a state of aporia, with no conclusion. And so while negative views of Socrates became increasing popular in Athens right up until his death, Socrates was, on the contrary, serving as Athens’s benefactor, opening up their eyes to the truth of world in which they lived in. In Plato’s Laches, Socrates
Socrates ideas more to achive the great well-being of society. He supported more on the establish of ethical system that fond on human reason than theological doctrine. He stated that happiness is the one that motivated the human choice. The person with greater ability to reason will have true happiness than the person with less ability. For Socrates, being ruled by individuals with great ability, knowledge and possessed, the government worked best and fully understanding themselves. Socrates valued knowledge more than money and prestige. He was the one that shaped the cultural and intellectual development history. Socrates cared about how people should behave, also developed the critical thinking in life. His best distribution is Socratic
Socrates was one of the greatest Greek philosophers. His work was not to propose any specific knowledge or policy: it was to show how argument, debate, and discussion could help men to understand difficult issues. Most of the issues he dealt with were only political on the surface. Underneath, they were moral questions about how life should be lived. Such is the influence of Socrates that philosophers before him are called the Presocratic philosophers.
Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher that was born in Athens, Greece around 470/469 BC. He served in the Athenian army and fought in many battles. When Socrates retired from fighting in the army, he began focusing on expressing his beliefs. He wasn’t the typical “teacher” or “preacher”; he was a very critical and analytical thinker that helped guide his students and the Athenians during his time. Through his teachings and beliefs, Socrates had positive and negative influence on the people during his time and modern time. Although he is credited as one of the founders of Western Philosophy, Political Philosophy, and Ethics, his teachings was in disagreement with the teachings of the democracy of Athens, which led to him being put to
Sheneka Anders Dr. Williams Humanities 1301 8 December 2017 Socrates Socrates was a great philosopher who had an incredible impact on philosopher of his time and even philosopher today. He lived in Athena from 469 B.C.E to 399 B.C.E. He taught his ism of life on the street to anyone who cared to listen. Socrates’ philosophy mainly was that everyone is responsible for his or her own moral attitudes. He was a critic of democracy. He asked simple questions that had difficult result to people who were considered wise at the time. His precept were based on discovering the Truth , understanding life, and talk about the elements that make up a good life. Socrates was brought to trial with many explosive charge for his teachings and philosophy. Who would know that Socrates trial would have such an impact on philosophy today? Socrates is reflected as the top philosopher of all time. He had great influences on many people throughout history. Socrates worked hard throughout his life to try to make people think deeper beyond the everyday thought and that of moral ethics. Socrates wanted to define what was morally right from wrong. This is what derived the Socratic Method. (Bishop) It was what Socrates considered to be the way a person should live their life. The thing that set Socrates apart from others, though, was that he stuck to this Socratic Method so persistently that is finally led to his death. At a time when many people would have thrown it out the window to save their
Socrates was one of the most influential thinkers in the West, even though he left no writings of himself, it was possible to reconstruct an accurate account of his life from the writings of his Greek students because he always engaged them. He was a man with a very strong conviction because he lived his life for the pursuit of knowledge, true wisdom, God’s will, and piety. Though he never wrote anything, his soul source of knowledge about him came from one of his students, Plato. Socrates was born in 469 B.C. in a village on the slopes of Mount Lycabettus, where his father was a sculptor and his mother a midwife. He soon became an apprentice and aid to his father and he continued it throughout a brief period of time until he
Socrates (469-399 B.C. E.) was a Greek philosopher of Athens. Today he is viewed as one of the forefathers of philosophy. He was wise beyond his time. Socrates was a philosopher who thought outside of the box. His belief was that happiness is achieved by human effort. He stated that if you gain control your desires and harmonizing the different parts of your soul. Follow those mere directions could create a state of inner tranquility that your outer body couldn’t effect. Socrates believed that every individual should think outside of the box and not as others of the general society. He was non-apologetic for he believes in and how he lived his life. According to philosophy, his life was his to live no matter what.
As a citizen of Athens I am outraged by the outcome of Socrates trial. Socrates is guilty and it is blasphemous that he was acquitted in his trial. Socrates speaks blasphemous things of our gods and he is an enemy of the state as well as the citizens. Socrates is poisoning the minds of our people and places philosophers as greater than everybody else. Socrates is a plague on our society and by acquitting him we the people have allowed his ideas to continue to poison our society. I am disappointed in the people of Athens for allowing this guilty man to go free.
Socrates is one of the most critical influential teaching figures in Greek history. Although due to the way he taught he is also one of the most difficult to understand. But his teachings did inspire a great deal of Greeks and the later ages culture. Socrates was first believed to have an interest in natural science however his focus soon shifted to the problems of human behavior and mortality. His methods of teaching were different from his predecessors of the past that the Greeks had become adjusted to. Such as the sophists, unlike them Socrates never took money, or founded a school instead he went around a variety of places such as markets, the gymnasia, and private gatherings to spread his knowledge to others.
Ancient Athens was the growing site of culture. Among many of the discoveries and improvements that were made, philosophy was one of them. Great thinkers were able to expand their knowledge to new measures. Socrates was one of these philosophers, and he had different ideals than most people of that time. He was sentenced to death by two charges brought against him, because of his open mindedness. The first was that Socrates corrupted the youth, and the second was that he did not believe in the Greek gods.
The Greek Philosopher Socrates once famously stated in his trial, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. He was charged with impiety and corruption of the youth, and said trial was recorded by Plato. Yet he was not an evil man. He was an axial thinker, seeking truth over wisdom, and virtue over knowledge. He encouraged others to examine life, and constantly question what the people believed to be true. Socrates came of age in 5th Century B.C.E Greece. The Grecians had proven themselves victorious over the Persians, and Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece, and was thrusted into an axial transformation. Athenians sought to gain knowledge of the controlled aspects of life; Such as why and how humans do the things they do. Athens prided itself on this axial way, of which their prized possession, democracy, was born. Yet this transformation was brought to an abrupt halt by the Peloponnesian Wars. Athens grew fearful that Sparta would threaten their growth, and instead halted their own transformation by throwing themselves into the Peloponnesian Wars. Athens suffered defeat at the hands of Sparta, in which they lost everything they found dear, and Athens was thrown into an axial dark age. Yet, Socrates was out of his times, and refused to change. To a generation of Athenians who needed certainty most, he brought about uncertainty and fear. Tragically ironic, he believed that questioning life was the only way to live, but it evidently brought about his death.