The name of Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, one of the great scientists and founders of dialectics, is known to every person now living in the world. According to many researchers, he can be considered the first philosopher of the planet in the proper sense of the word.
The life and work of Socrates opened up new horizons of ancient science, turned philosophical thought towards man, and awareness of his role in the life of nature and society.

Life of Socrates

The future genius of philosophical thought was born in Athens, in the family of the stonemason-sculptor Sofriniscus and the midwife Fenareta. The exact date of birth is unknown, around 469 BC. e.

According to his statements, it is quite possible to do without the participation of philosophers when governing any state, but on the condition that noble people are in power. But, as Socrates’s own life showed, he himself had to participate quite actively in the political and social life of the country.

Socrates took part in the Peloponnesian War; information has been preserved about the battles of Delium and Amphipolis, as well as Potidaea, where he also took part. The philosopher spent most of his life in conversations; many noble Athenians and visiting sophists visited him, for whom the themes of good and evil, virtue and vice were important.

There is information about Socrates’ performances as a lawyer for the Athenian strategists who were condemned to death by the unjust court of the demos. He had to protect not only strangers, unknown politicians and military leaders, but also loved ones, for example, the son of Aspasia and Pericles, who were his friends.
A difficult relationship developed between Socrates and the famous Athenian commander Alcibiades, who subsequently seized power and established a brutal dictatorship. At one time, Socrates was the mentor of this great politician.

In one of the battles, Alcibiades managed to save his life only thanks to the philosopher. The Athenian commander was wounded, and his life hung in the balance when the Spartan phalanx was ready to use their spears. Socrates, armed with a huge club, alone managed to disperse the enemies without leaving the commander in trouble.

But at the same time, after the establishment of the dictatorship of Alcibiades in the country, Socrates more than once made speeches condemning tyranny. Not only with words, but also with actions, or rather, inaction, so-called sabotage, he showed his non-acceptance of this method of governing the state.
The power of the dictator fell under pressure from the masses, and the loyal army immediately abandoned Alcibiades, dooming him to certain death. And again, Socrates saves the student, while fully understanding that the death of the dictator would not allow him to further harm his native Athens.

Trial of Socrates

The year of Socrates' death is precisely known to scientists - 399 BC. e., when he was convicted by an Athenian court and sentenced to death. The philosopher accepted the news of the terrible sentence with dignity. Since he was a free Athenian citizen, he chose his own way of leaving for another world - he took poison.
The details of this high-profile case are known from the works of Plato “Apology of Socrates” and Xenophon “Defense of Socrates in Court”. Each of them recorded the speech of the philosopher, with which he spoke in defense of himself and his actions. In addition, each of the works describes in detail the circumstances of the trial.

Thus, in particular, it is noted that he did not appeal to the mercy of the judges, considering this method of defense to be degrading to his human dignity and the dignity of the judges. Socrates rejected the accusations against him that he had a corrupting effect on young people and blasphemed.
The great philosopher had several opportunities to avoid the death penalty, however, he refused to take advantage and did not accept offers of help. First, Socrates was asked to fine himself in order to avoid a more severe punishment. But he considered that imposing a fine was an admission of guilt that he did not feel, and refused.

Secondly, he did not agree with the proposal of his friends to kidnap him from the prison where he was kept, according to him, and there is no place outside Attica where death could not reach.

The end of Socrates' biography: death

The glory of Socrates was brought not only by his life, active position and philosophy, but also by his departure to another world, described in detail by Plato. The last ritual that Socrates performed on earth was the sacrifice of a rooster to Asclepius, the god of healing.
As is known, such rituals were performed by grateful recovering people. Socrates made a sacrifice to God and people for allowing him to leave this world, heal his soul, getting rid of earthly shackles.

Modern researchers continue to be tormented by the question of what kind of poison Socrates took. A thorough study is being carried out of all the testimonies and memories of philosophers, in particular, the symptoms of poisoning mentioned.

According to Xenophon, it was hemlock, however, scientists refute this version, since the symptoms that accompanied the departure of Socrates are completely different. Plato simply refers to the philosopher's use of poison, but describes in detail the last hours and minutes of his life. The picture of poisoning described by Plato suggests that it may have been hemlock.

Basic postulates of Socratic philosophy

Socrates was one of the first in Ancient Greece to use dialectics. His attempts to find the truth led to the emergence of the so-called Socratic method, when the solution was born from many leading questions. At the same time, he did not write down anything; all known facts and information about him, his worldview came down in the notes of Plato and Xenophon.

It is from the works, records, and memoirs of ancient Greek philosophers that we know about the role that Socrates played in the formation, development and choice of the further path of development of philosophical science. And if the early representatives of this science were fans of natural philosophy, then the post-Socratic period is characterized by increased attention to ethical problems, political, economic, and cultural topics.

For many of his followers, he is the embodiment of a sage, an ideal philosopher, who considered self-knowledge to be the most essential for a person, and wisdom to be the main virtue.

Socrates (ancient Greek Σωκράτης; 470/469 BC, Athens - 399 BC, ibid.). An ancient Greek philosopher, whose teaching marks a turn in philosophy - from consideration of nature and the world to consideration of man. His activity is a turning point in ancient philosophy. With his method of analyzing concepts (mayeutics, dialectics) and identifying the positive qualities of a person with his knowledge, he directed the attention of philosophers to the importance of the human personality. Socrates is called the first philosopher in the proper sense of the word. In the person of Socrates, philosophizing thought first turns to itself, exploring its own principles and techniques.

Representatives of the Greek branch of patristics drew parallels between Socrates and Christ.

In his youth he studied the arts with Damon and Conon, listened to Anaxagoras and Archelaus, knew how to read and write, however, he did not leave any compositions behind him. He was married for the second time to a woman named Xanthippe and had several sons from her, the youngest of whom was seven years old at the time of the philosopher’s death. He distinguished himself in a number of battles and was an example of personal courage as an Athenian hoplite militiaman. He led the life of an Athenian parasite and a beggar sage and never left Attica. He was famous as an invincible debater and a moneyless person who refused expensive gifts and always wore old clothes and barefoot. He was ridiculed as a sophist and paid teacher of eloquence in the comedy "Clouds" (circa 423 BC), at the performance of which he stood up, inviting the audience to compare himself with the actor.

Socrates believed that noble people would be able to rule the state without the participation of philosophers, but in defending the truth, he was often forced to take an active part in the public life of Athens. He took part in the Peloponnesian War - he fought at Potidaea, at Delia, at Amphipolis. He defended the strategists condemned to death from the unfair trial of the demos, including the son of his friends Pericles and Aspasia. He was the mentor of the Athenian politician and commander Alcibiades, saving his life in battle.

Socrates expressed his thoughts orally, in conversations with different persons; We have reached information about the content of these conversations in the works of his students and Xenophon (Memoirs of Socrates, Defense of Socrates at the Trial, Feast, Domostroy), and only in an insignificant proportion in the works of Aristotle. In view of the large number and volume of the works of Plato and Xenophon, it may seem that the philosophy of Socrates is known to us with complete accuracy. But there is an obstacle: Plato and Xenophon present Socrates' teaching differently in many respects. For example, in Xenophon, Socrates shares the general opinion that enemies should do more evil than they could do; and in Plato, Socrates, contrary to general opinion, says that one should not pay offense and evil to anyone in the world, no matter what evil people have done.

Hence the question arose in science: which of them represents the teachings of Socrates in a purer form. This question has given rise to deep debate in philosophical literature and is resolved in completely different ways: some scientists see in Xenophon the purest source of information about Socratic philosophy; others, on the contrary, consider Xenophon to be a worthless or unsuitable witness and give preference to Plato. However, it is natural that the famous warriors Socrates and the commander Xenophon, first of all, discussed the problems of attitude towards enemies in war; with Plato, on the contrary, it was about the enemies with whom people deal in peacetime. Some argue that the only reliable source for the characterization of Socrates is the comedies of Callias, Telecleides, Eupolis and especially the comedies of Aristophanes "Clouds", "Frogs", "Birds", where Socrates is presented as a sophist and atheist, the ideological leader of reformers of all stripes, even the inspirer of the tragedies of Euripides , and where all the points of the future accusation at the trial are reflected. But many other contemporary playwrights portrayed Socrates sympathetically - as a selfless and good-natured eccentric and an original, steadfastly enduring adversity. Thus, Ameipsy in the tragedy “Horses” gives the following characterization of the philosopher: “My Socrates, are you the best in a narrow circle, but unfit for mass action, a sufferer and a hero among us?”. Finally, some consider the testimony about Socrates of all three main witnesses important: Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes, although Aristophanes’s sponsor was the main enemy of Socrates, the rich and corrupt Anytus.

Many statements traditionally attributed to the historical Socrates are characterized as “paradoxical” because they, from a logical point of view, seem to contradict common sense. Among the so-called Socratic paradoxes phrases include:

Nobody wishes harm.
No one does evil of his own free will.
Virtue is knowledge.

"Socratic paradoxes" can also refer to self-referential paradoxes, exemplified by the phrase regarding knowledge, also attributed to Socrates: “All I know is that I don’t know anything, but others don’t know that either.”.

Socrates compared his research techniques to the “art of the midwife” (maieutics); his method of questions involving a critical attitude to dogmatic statements was called "Socratic irony". Socrates did not write down his thoughts, believing that this weakened his memory. And he led his students to a true judgment through dialogue, where he asked a general question, received an answer, asked the next clarifying question, and so on until the final answer. At the same time, the opponent, getting to know himself, was often forced to admit that he was ridiculous.

After the establishment of a dictatorship as a result of the activities of Alcibiades, Socrates condemned the tyrants and sabotaged the activities of the dictatorship. After the overthrow of the dictatorship, citizens, angry that when the Athenian army abandoned the wounded commander-in-chief and fled, Socrates saved the life of Alcibiades (if Alcibiades had died, he would not have been able to harm Athens), in 399 BC. e. Socrates was charged with the fact that “he does not honor the gods whom the city honors, but introduces new deities, and is guilty of corrupting youth.”

The trial of Socrates is described in two works by Xenophon and Plato with the similar title Apology of Socrates (Greek: Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους). “Apology” (ancient Greek ἀπολογία) corresponds to the words “Defense”, “Defensive speech”. The works of Plato and Xenophon, “The Defense of Socrates at the Trial,” contain Socrates’ defensive speech at the trial and describe the circumstances of his trial.

At the trial, Socrates, instead of the appeal to the mercy of judges, which was accepted at that time, which he declares degrading the dignity of both the defendant and the court, speaks of the words of the Delphic Pythia to Chaerephon that “there is no person more independent, just and reasonable than Socrates.” Indeed, when he, with one large club, dispersed the Spartan phalanx, who were about to throw spears at the wounded Alcibiades, not a single enemy warrior wanted the dubious glory of killing or at least wounding the elderly sage, and his fellow citizens were going to sentence him to death. Socrates also rejects accusations of blasphemy and corruption of youth.

In Athenian legal proceedings, processes were divided into “valued” and “non-valued”. “Invaluable” were those in which the punishment was provided for by existing laws, and “valued” were those in which the punishment was imposed by the court. In this case, after the first vote was cast, when the question of whether the defendant was guilty was decided, a second vote followed (if the verdict was guilty) regarding the punishment or fine. The punishment was proposed by both the prosecutor and the defendant, and it was unprofitable for the latter to assign too little punishment to himself, because then the judges could be inclined to side with the punishment proposed by the prosecutor. We have an example of this in the Socratic trial: “When they offered to assign him a fine, he neither imposed it himself nor allowed his friends, but, on the contrary, even said that imposing a fine on himself meant admitting guilt. Then, when his friends wanted to kidnap him from prison, he did not agree and, it seems, even laughed at them, asking if they knew a place outside of Attica where death would not have access".

According to Plato's Apology, he proudly says that he deserves not punishment, but the highest honor of ancient Athens - dinner in the prytaneum at public expense.

According to Cambridge University professor Paul Cartledge, Socrates was guilty of blasphemy and corruption of youth and was legally sentenced to death. According to the scientist’s conclusion, the verdict was not something unusual, it cannot be considered an exceptional case for Ancient Greece: from the point of view of the court, Socrates’ actions were illegal and aimed at shaking the moral foundations of that time; Cambridge historians consider the version that Socrates was a victim of slander and libel to be unreliable.

It is interesting that in 2012, a modern court was staged in Athens with the participation of prominent lawyers from different countries and spectators, during which the opinions of professional lawyers who acted as judges were equally divided, and the majority of spectators voted in favor of the innocence of Socrates and as a result the philosopher was acquitted.

As a free Athenian citizen, Socrates was not executed by the executioner, but took poison himself.

Socrates is famous, among others. the way he accepted his death. Before his death, Socrates asked to sacrifice a rooster to Asclepius (usually this ritual was performed as gratitude for recovery), thereby symbolizing his death as recovery, liberation from earthly shackles. According to Socrates, the philosopher’s soul does not resist this liberation, therefore he is calm in the face of death. Both the circumstances of the execution and its process were described in detail by Plato in his dialogue “Phaedo”, entirely dedicated to the last day of Socrates. It is especially noteworthy that for many years, thanks to Xenophon, there was an opinion that Socrates was poisoned by hemlock. However, the clinical picture of death does not correspond to the classical picture of hemlock poisoning. This is how Plato himself describes the death of Socrates: “Socrates walked at first, then he said that his legs were getting heavy, and he lay down on his back: that’s what the man ordered. When Socrates lay down, he felt his feet and legs, and a little later - again. Then he squeezed his foot tightly and asked if he felt it. Socrates answered that no. After that, he again felt his legs and, gradually moving his hand up, showed us how the body grew cold and numb. Finally, he touched him for the last time and said that when the cold comes to his heart, he will go away.<..>A little later he shuddered, and the servant opened his face: Socrates’ gaze stopped. Seeing this, Crito closed his mouth and eyes.".

The picture of hemlock poisoning is much more unsightly; seizures resembling epileptic seizures, foam at the mouth, nausea, vomiting, and paralysis are possible. Plato himself never mentions in his work what exactly Socrates was poisoned with, only calling it the general word “poison.” Recently, an attempt was made to identify the poison from which Socrates died, as a result of which the author came to the conclusion that spotted hemlock (lat. Conium maculatum) was used, the picture of poisoning of which is more suitable to what Plato described.

Disciples of Socrates:

Alcibiades (politician, 20 years younger than Socrates)
(philosopher, founder of Cynicism, 25 years younger than Socrates)
Xenophon (politician and historian, 25 years younger than Socrates)
Plato (philosopher, founder of the Academy, 30 years younger than Socrates)
Crito
Aeschines of Sfetta
(philosopher, founder of the Cyrene school)
Phaedo of Elis
Euclid of Megara (founder of the Megara school).

Socrates is an ancient thinker, the first Athenian philosopher.

Biography

Socrates was born in Athens in 470 BC. His father, Sophronix, was a stonemason, and his mother was a midwife. Socrates learned the craft of a sculptor from his father. Socrates liked to say that he inherited her art from his mother, comparing it with the philosophical method - maieutics: “Now my midwifery art is in every way similar to obstetrics, differing from it only in that I deliver births to husbands, not wives, births of the soul, not the body.”

Socrates studied with one of the most famous philosophers of antiquity - Anaxagoras of Klazomen, who was also the teacher of Pericles.

In 440 BC. e., when the population of Athens suffered from a plague epidemic, Pericles invited the great priestess of the Temple of Apollo, Diotima of Mantinea, to participate in the ceremony to cleanse the city. For young Socrates, the meeting with the priestess was decisive. Diotima initiated him into the mysteries of Eros according to the Orphic tradition, which Plato later conveyed in the episode about Diotima in the dialogue “Symposium”.

Socrates traveled little and almost never left Athens. As a young man, he visited only Delphi, Corinth and the island of Samos with the philosopher Archelaus. Socrates fought in the Battle of Potidaea in 432 BC. e. and Amifipol in 422 BC. e. They say that when the Athenians retreated, he walked backwards, facing the enemy.

Socrates' conversations were admirable. He considered his listeners, first of all, friends, and only then students. Thanks to his extraordinary charm, he had an influence on people of different ages, which caused envy, hostility and even hostility. In 399 BC. he was accused of disrespect for the gods (for he believed in a supreme God) and of corrupting the youth, since he preached his teachings. He was judged, but continued to philosophize, because he considered it a mission that God entrusted to him and could not renounce what he said or did: “... as long as I have breath and ability, I will not stop philosophizing, persuading and convincing everyone you... saying the same thing I usually say: “O best of men, citizen of the city of Athens... aren’t you ashamed that you care about money, so that you have as much of it as possible, about fame and honors, and about rationality, about the truth and about your soul, so that it is as best as possible, without caring or thinking?”

Socrates chooses to die defending his ideas:
“But now it’s time to leave here, for me to die, for you to live, and which of us is going for the best is not clear to anyone except God.”

Thirty days after the verdict, Socrates drinks a cup of hemlock surrounded by his students, to whom he speaks about the unity of life and death: “Those who are truly devoted to philosophy are actually busy with only one thing - dying and death.”

In his comments on Plato's Cratylus, which concern the meaning of names, Proclus states that the name Socrates comes from “soet tou kratou,” which means “released by the power of the soul, that which is not tempted by the things of the material world.”

Diogenes Laertius cites many testimonies and anecdotes, borrowed from ancient authors, depicting the character of Socrates: determination, courage, control of passions, modesty and independence from wealth and power.

Socrates, on principle, did not write down his thoughts, considering the real sphere of existence of true knowledge and wisdom to be a live conversation with opponents, a live dialogue, and polemics. Entering into dialogue with Socrates meant taking an “examination of the soul,” taking stock of life. According to Plato “Anyone who was close to Socrates and entered into a conversation with him, no matter what was discussed, was passed along the turns of the spiral of discourse and inevitably found himself forced to move forward until he realized himself, how he lived and how he lives now, and what even briefly slipped once could not hide from Socrates.”

Key ideas:

Maieutics and irony

The Socratic dialogues were a search for true knowledge, and an important step on this path was the awareness of its absence, the understanding of one's own ignorance. According to legend, Socrates was called “the wisest of all wise” by the Delphic Pythia. Apparently, this is connected with his statement about the limitations of human knowledge: "I know that I know nothing". Using the method of irony, Socrates puts on the mask of a simpleton and asks to teach something or give advice. There is always a serious goal behind this game - to force the interlocutor to reveal himself, his ignorance, to achieve the effect of a beneficial shock to the listener.

About a human

Repeating after the Delphic Oracle “Know thyself,” Socrates addresses the problem of man, the solution to the question of the essence of man, his nature. You can study the laws of nature, the movement of the stars, but why go so far, as Socrates says - know yourself, go deeper into what is close, and then, through knowledge of accessible things, you can come to the same deep truths. For Socrates, a person is, first of all, his soul. And by “soul” Socrates understands our mind, the ability to think, and conscience, the moral principle. If the essence of a person is his soul, then it is not so much his body that needs special care, but his soul, and the highest task of the educator is to teach people how to cultivate the soul. Virtue makes the soul good and perfect. Socrates associates virtue with knowledge, which is a necessary condition for doing good deeds, because without understanding the essence of good, you will not know how to act in the name of good.

Virtue and reason do not contradict each other at all, since thinking is extremely necessary for the discovery of the Good, the Beautiful and the Just.

Socrates reveals the concept of happiness and the possibilities of achieving it. The source of happiness is not in the body or in anything external, but in the soul, not in enjoying the things of the external material world, but in a feeling of inner fulfillment. A person is happy when his soul is orderly and virtuous.

The soul, according to Socrates, is the mistress of the body, as well as the instincts associated with the body. This dominance is freedom, which Socrates calls self-control. A person must achieve power over himself based on his virtues: “Wisdom is self-defeat, while ignorance leads to self-defeat.”.

It is he who is credited with the phrase “I know that I know nothing,” which itself is a philosophical treatise in a condensed form. After all, it turns out that already in antiquity the idea of the multidimensionality of the world and the limitations of any knowledge matured, which is relevant to this day. Socrates was destined to give his life for his views, which he did not renounce until his last breath - like many sages, he was far ahead of his time.

No works of Socrates have reached us, and this is explained by his fundamental position - it is in oral form that truth is born, and written speech contributes to the creation of thinking patterns and violates the principle of fluidity and immediacy of thought. That is why the figure of the ancient sage is overgrown with legends, and all that we know about the philosopher is the perception on the part of enemies and students or simply contemporaries. Plato, his student and follower, a prominent representative of idealistic philosophy, wrote a lot about Socrates. After the famous trial of Socrates, numerous “Apologies” were created, among which the most significant works were authored not only by Plato, but also by Xenophon. Socrates is mentioned by Aristotle in his Metaphysics. Apparently, the philosopher managed to have a huge influence on his contemporaries: the desire to talk about the highest issues of existence with absolutely any person, the attitude towards dialogue, openness of thinking, admiration for knowledge and at the same time the feeling of the impossibility of achieving it, the unpretentiousness of external life and even his bright appearance made him iconic figure. By 423 BC. e. Socrates becomes so famous that his image is recreated in the comedies of Aristophanes and Ameipsia. But true admirers came to him for wisdom and to learn to think; his dialogues fascinated and temporarily eliminated social differences. And Socrates willingly entered into conversations anywhere: in squares, in gardens, on the streets - anywhere.

Basic facts of the biography of Socrates

The years of Socrates' life are roughly determined by the period from 469 to 399 BC. He was born in Athens, in Ancient Greece, in the family of, apparently, a wealthy citizen Sophronix, who was engaged in either sculpture or the craft of a stonemason. Socrates' mother was called Phenarete.

In the enlightened era of Pericles, Socrates communicated with many intellectuals - the musician Damon, the scientist Archelaus, the sophist Protagoras, and the philosopher Anaxagoras. He was friends with the politicians Theramenes, Charmides, Critias and Alcibiades, which later served him badly, compromising him in court. Zeno of Elea taught Socrates dialectics, Prodicus taught sophistry, Socrates also took part in disputes with Gorgias, Thrasymachus and Antiphon. Socrates took part in the Peloponnesian War, but military affairs turned out to be completely alien to him.

Already in adulthood, Socrates married Xanthippe, who was, perhaps, no less famous for her grumpiness. From this marriage (probably Socrates' second) three children were born.

Features of Socrates' worldview

We are not talking about some established philosophical system, but rather about a set of ideas that became the basis for the perception of the world and Socrates’ way of life.

Socrates believed that only through dialogue can truth be born. He very wisely believed that he knew nothing about the world, and in order to find out, he entered into dialogue with a variety of people. Socrates called this method of obtaining knowledge “maieutics,” comparing cognition with midwifery and believing that true knowledge is born in dialogue. The main methods of Socrates' dialogue are paradoxicality, skillful reduction to contradiction, and irony. Any complete and clearly articulated thought seemed incomplete, very limited, if not absurd knowledge, and the fact that this thought, as a rule, was expressed by Socrates’ interlocutor, added spice to the dialogues and came down to a feeling of the imperfection of human knowledge in comparison with universal wisdom and multidimensionality. It is this ability not to take a single dogma on faith, the desire to rid one’s thinking of templates and stereotypes, that makes Socrates surprisingly modern even now.
Goodness and knowledge are the unshakable values of the Socratic world. The philosopher believed, for example, that it is impossible to be pious without knowing what it means. The root of all evil is ignorance, an error of reasoning, and if it is clarified, the soul will again come into harmony and love for the world will triumph. According to Socrates, virtue is a state of mind.
The principle of knowledge “from small to large.” Socrates was one of the first to turn to the world of abstractions (which Aristophanes ridiculed in the comedy “Clouds”), and the basis for thinking about the categories of good and evil, about knowledge, were precisely examples from the surrounding reality.
Rejection of previous natural philosophical teachings that tried to explain the origin of the world. Disputes with the Sophists. Socrates believed that it was moral and ethical issues that should come to the fore in philosophical systems, because it is this aspect that affects everyday life, and therefore is the most important. Socrates sought to identify a clear ethical understanding in each specific case and in each specific person, considering this to be the key to a harmonious life. “Knowledge – benefit – pleasure” - this is the triad that became the basis of Socrates’ anthropology.

Ethics of Socrates

Socrates considered knowledge to be the highest form of virtue, and in this sense he acted as a consistent rationalist. Most often, Socrates talked about the essence of love and friendship. At the same time, love was inseparable from knowledge - only by loving a person can you constantly want to get to know him better, without losing your disposition and sympathy for him. This is the key to harmony - every soul is a priori good.
In addition, Socrates was one of the first to extol the value of inner knowledge, calling it the “patron demon” of a person, whose voice should be listened to (there is no mysticism here, the “demon”, according to Socrates, is a mixture of conscience, reason, moral -ethical feeling). It was this postulate that subsequently became the reason for accusing Socrates of impiety. It is interesting that after many centuries, Nietzsche also perceived Socrates as almost denying ethical canons.
Another “sedition” of Socrates was the doubt that the younger generation should gain life experience by humbly listening to their elders and learning virtue from them. This “exploded” the established tradition of education in Ancient Greece. Socrates saw true piety in self-knowledge and spiritual improvement, which is what the maxim “Know thyself” attributed to him says. At the same time, according to Socrates, a person who acts badly, most likely, simply does not know what good is, or does good anyway.
Speaking about the state, Socrates emphasized that only the best representatives of society, highly moral and living according to the principle of goodness, should be in power. It is easy to imagine how critically Socrates perceived the current government and how disliked he therefore found himself.

The fate of Socrates

His life was free and bright - too much attention was attracted to the “inconvenient”, independent, talkative eccentric free from the material world, who influenced entire generations of Greeks. In 399 BC. An Athenian court sentenced Socrates on charges of deviating from the religion accepted by the state, undermining the foundations of the state and having a bad influence on the younger generation. Like-minded people of Socrates tried to save him by organizing a prison break, but Socrates refused. He drank hemlock as an acknowledgment of the verdict, and died a few minutes later, remaining conscious. This example of unbending will and absolute consistency, fearlessness and inner strength has become an integral part of the myth of Socrates, which in the 21st century arouses keen interest in the personality of the ancient sage.

Socrates
Born: around 469 BC e.
Died: 399 BC e.

Biography

Socrates (ancient Greek Σωκράτης; 470/469 BC, Athens - 399 BC, ibid.) - ancient Greek philosopher, whose teaching marks a turn in philosophy - from consideration of nature and the world to consider a person. His activity is a turning point in ancient philosophy. With his method of analyzing concepts (mayeutics, dialectics) and identifying the positive qualities of a person with his knowledge, he directed the attention of philosophers to the importance of the human personality. Socrates is called the first philosopher in the proper sense of the word. In the person of Socrates, philosophizing thought first turns to itself, exploring its own principles and techniques.

Representatives of the Greek branch of patristics drew parallels between Socrates and Christ.

Socrates was the son of the sculptor Sophroniscus and the midwife Phenareta; he had an older maternal brother, Patroclus, who inherited his father’s property. Born on the 6th Fargelion on an unclean day of the Athenian calendar, Socrates became a “pharmakom”, that is, a lifelong priest of the health of the Athenian state without salary, and in archaic times could be sacrificed by the verdict of the people’s assembly in the event of public problems. In his youth he studied the arts with Damon and Conon, listened to Anaxagoras and Archelaus, knew how to read and write, however, he did not leave any compositions behind him. He was married for the second time to a woman named Xanthippe and had several sons from her, the youngest of whom was seven years old at the time of the philosopher’s death. He distinguished himself in a number of battles and was an example of personal courage as an Athenian hoplite militiaman. He led the life of an Athenian parasite and a beggar sage and never left Attica. He was famous as an invincible debater and unmercenary, refusing expensive gifts and always wearing old clothes and barefoot. He was ridiculed as a sophist and paid teacher of eloquence in Aristophanes' comedy "The Clouds" (circa 423 BC), at the performance of which he stood up, inviting the audience to compare himself with the actor. (Diogenes Laertius, Demetrius of Byzantium, Olympiodorus, Menander)

"Interlocutors Socrates they sought his company not in order to become orators..., but in order to become noble people and fulfill their duties well towards the family, servants (the servants were slaves), relatives, friends, the Fatherland, fellow citizens" (Xenophon, "Memoirs of Socrates" ).

Sources

Socrates expressed his thoughts orally, in conversations with different persons; We have received information about the content of these conversations in the works of his students, Plato and Xenophon (Memoirs of Socrates, Defense of Socrates at the trial, Feast, Domostroy), and only in an insignificant proportion in the works of Aristotle. In view of the large number and volume of the works of Plato and Xenophon, it may seem that the philosophy of Socrates is known to us with complete accuracy. But there is an obstacle: Plato and Xenophon present Socrates' teaching differently in many respects. For example, in Xenophon, Socrates shares the general opinion that enemies should do more evil than they could do; and in Plato, Socrates, contrary to general opinion, says that one should not pay offense and evil to anyone in the world, no matter what evil people have done. Hence the question arose in science: which of them represents the teachings of Socrates in a purer form. This question has given rise to deep debate in philosophical literature and is resolved in completely different ways: some scientists see in Xenophon the purest source of information about Socratic philosophy; others, on the contrary, consider Xenophon to be a worthless or unsuitable witness and give preference to Plato. However, it is natural that the famous warriors Socrates and the commander Xenophon, first of all, discussed the problems of attitude towards enemies in war; with Plato, on the contrary, it was about the enemies with whom people deal in peacetime. Some argue that the only reliable source for the characterization of Socrates is the comedies of Callias, Telecleides, Eupolis and especially the comedies of Aristophanes "Clouds", "Frogs", "Birds", where Socrates is presented as a sophist and atheist, the ideological leader of reformers of all stripes, even the inspirer of the tragedies of Euripides , and where all the points of the future accusation at the trial are reflected. But many other contemporary playwrights portrayed Socrates sympathetically - as a selfless and good-natured eccentric and an original, steadfastly enduring adversity. Thus, Ameipsia in the tragedy “Horses” gives the following characterization of the philosopher: “My Socrates, are you the best in a narrow circle, but unsuitable for mass action, a sufferer and a hero, among us?” Finally, some consider the testimony about Socrates of all three main witnesses important: Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes, although Aristophanes’s sponsor was the main enemy of Socrates, the rich and corrupt Anytus.

Philosophical views of Socrates

Using the method of dialectical debate, Socrates tried to restore through his philosophy the authority of knowledge, shaken by the sophists. The Sophists neglected the truth, and Socrates made it his beloved.

“... Socrates investigated the moral virtues and was the first to try to give their general definitions (after all, of those who reasoned about nature, only Democritus touched on this a little and in some way gave definitions of warm and cold; and the Pythagoreans - before him - did this for a few things, the definitions of which they reduced to numbers , indicating, for example, what opportunity, or justice, or matrimony is). ...Two things can rightly be attributed to Socrates - proofs by induction and general definitions: both concern the beginning of knowledge,” wrote Aristotle (“Metaphysics”, XIII, 4).

The line between the spiritual processes inherent in man and the material world, already outlined by the previous development of Greek philosophy (in the teachings of Pythagoras, the Sophists, etc.), was more clearly outlined by Socrates: he emphasized the uniqueness of consciousness in comparison with material existence and was one of the first to deeply reveal the sphere of the spiritual as an independent reality, proclaiming it as something no less reliable than the existence of the perceived world (monism).

In matters of ethics, Socrates developed the principles of rationalism, arguing that virtue stems from knowledge, and a person who knows what good is will not act badly. After all, goodness is also knowledge, so a culture of intelligence can make people kind.

Socratic paradoxes

Many statements traditionally attributed to the historical Socrates are characterized as “paradoxical” because they, from a logical point of view, seem to contradict common sense. The so-called Socratic paradoxes include the following phrases:

Nobody wishes harm.
No one does evil of his own free will.
Virtue is knowledge.

“Socratic paradoxes” can also refer to self-referential paradoxes, exemplified by the phrase regarding knowledge, also attributed to Socrates: “I only know that I know nothing, but others do not know even that.”

Socratic method

Socrates compared his research techniques to the “art of the midwife” (maieutics); his method of questioning, suggesting a critical attitude to dogmatic statements, was called “Socratic irony.” Socrates did not write down his thoughts, believing that this weakened his memory. And he led his students to a true judgment through dialogue, where he asked a general question, received an answer, asked the next clarifying question, and so on until the final answer. At the same time, the opponent, getting to know himself, was often forced to admit that he was ridiculous.

Trial of Socrates

The trial of Socrates is described in two works by Xenophon and Plato with the similar title Apology of Socrates (Greek: Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους). “Apology” (ancient Greek ἀπολογία) corresponds to the words “Defense”, “Defensive speech”. The works of Plato (see Apology (Plato)) and Xenophon’s “Defense of Socrates at the Trial” contain Socrates’ defensive speech at the trial and describe the circumstances of his trial.

When he was asked to impose a fine, he neither imposed it himself nor allowed his friends to do so, but, on the contrary, even said that imposing a fine on himself meant admitting guilt. Then, when his friends wanted to kidnap him from prison, he did not agree and, it seems, even laughed at them, asking if they knew a place outside of Attica where death would not have access.

According to Plato's Apology, he proudly says that he deserves not punishment, but the highest honor of ancient Athens - dinner in the prytaneum at public expense.

Execution

Socrates is famous not only for how he lived, but also for how he accepted his death. Before his death, Socrates asked to sacrifice a rooster to Asclepius (usually this ritual was performed as gratitude for recovery), thereby symbolizing his death as recovery, liberation from earthly shackles. According to Socrates, the philosopher’s soul does not resist this liberation, therefore he is calm in the face of death. Both the circumstances of the execution and its process were described in detail by Plato in his dialogue “Phaedo”, entirely dedicated to the last day of Socrates. It is especially noteworthy that for many years, thanks to Xenophon, there was an opinion that Socrates was poisoned by hemlock. However, the clinical picture of death does not correspond to the classical picture of hemlock poisoning. This is how Plato himself describes the death of Socrates:

Socrates walked at first, then said that his legs were getting heavy, and lay down on his back: that’s what the man ordered. When Socrates lay down, he felt his feet and legs, and a little later - again. Then I squeezed his foot tightly and asked if he could feel it. Socrates answered no. After that, he again felt his legs and, gradually moving his hand up, showed us how the body grew cold and numb. Finally he touched me for the last time and said that when the cold comes to my heart, it will go away.<..>A little later he shuddered, and the servant opened his face: Socrates’ gaze stopped. Seeing this, Crito closed his mouth and eyes.

Theories about the personality of Socrates

The identity of Socrates is the subject of much speculation. In addition to philosophers and moralists, many psychologists tried to explain the character of Socrates. Nineteenth-century psychology and philosophy were especially interested in this issue, which at times considered his case pathological. In particular, the man's willpower and his physical exercise aroused curiosity. Through various activities, Socrates strengthened his body in order to strengthen himself against suffering. He often remained in the same position, from dawn to dusk, “motionless and straight as a tree trunk.” At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, Athens was devastated by an epidemic; as Favorin believed, the philosopher owed his salvation to the constancy of his regime and his removal from voluptuousness, being preserved from illness thanks to a clean and healthy lifestyle.

Students of Socrates

Alcibiades (politician, 20 years younger than Socrates), Antisthenes (philosopher, founder of Cynicism, 25 years younger than Socrates), Xenophon (politician and historian), Plato (philosopher, founder of the Academy), Crito, Aeschines of Sphetta, Aristippus (philosopher, founder of the Cyrene school), Phaedo of Elis, Euclid of Megara (founder of the Megara school)