“As for me, all I

know is that I
know nothing,”

– Republic, 354c

Sócrates
Mariangel Castruita Vázquez
 Introduction

Socrates is one of the few individuals whom one could say has
so-shaped the cultural and intellectual development of the world
that, without him, history would be profoundly different. He is
best known for his association with the Socratic method of
question and answer, his claim that he was ignorant (or aware of
his own absence of knowledge), and his claim that the
unexamined life is not worth living, for human beings. He was
the inspiration for Plato, the thinker widely held to be the
founder of the Western philosophical tradition. Plato in turn
served as the teacher of Aristotle, thus establishing the famous
triad of ancient philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Birth and early life

Socrates was born in Athens in the year 469 B.C.E. to Sophroniscus, a

stonemason, and Phaenarete, a midwife. His family was not extremely
poor, but they were by no means wealthy, and Socrates could not
claim that he was of noble birth like Plato.
In a culture that worshipped male beauty, Socrates had the misfortune
of being born incredibly ugly. Many of our ancient sources attest to his
rather awkward physical appearance, and Plato more than once makes
reference to it. Socrates was exophthalmic, meaning that his eyes
bulged out of his head and were not straight but focused sideways. He
had a snub nose, which made him resemble a pig, and many sources
depict him with a potbelly. Socrates did little to help his odd
appearance, frequently wearing the same cloak and sandals
throughout both the day and the evening.
Birth and early life

As a young man Socrates was given an education appropriate for a

person of his station. By the middle of the 5th century B.C.E., all
Athenian males were taught to read and write. Sophroniscus,
however, also took pains to give his son an advanced cultural
education in poetry, music, and athletics. In both Plato and
Xenophon, we find a Socrates that is well versed in poetry,
talented at music, and quite at-home in the gymnasium. In
accordance with Athenian custom, his father also taught him a
trade, though Socrates did not labor at it on a daily basis. Rather,
he spent his days in the agora (the Athenian marketplace), asking
questions of those who would speak with him.
Philosopher and teacher

Philosopher and Teacher As Socrates grew older, he began to

explore philosophy. Unlike many philosophers of his time, Socrates
focused on ethics and how people should behave rather than on
the physical world. He said that happiness came from leading a
moral life rather than material possessions. He encouraged people
to pursue justice and goodness rather than wealth and power. His
ideas were quite radical for the time. Young men and scholars in
Athens began to gather around Socrates to have philosophical
discussions. They would discuss ethics and current political issues
in Athens. Socrates chose not to give answers to questions, but
instead posed questions and discussed possible answers.
Legacy

The main legacy of Socrates is perhaps his own death: a

philosopher condemned to death by the democracy of
Athens, for introducing new gods.
The basis of his teachings and what he instilled, was the
belief in an objective understanding of the concepts of
justice, love and virtue; and the knowledge of oneself.
Socrates described the soul (psyche) as that by virtue of
which we are qualified as wise or crazy, good or bad, a
combination of intelligence and character.
Assuming a position of ignorance, he interrogated people to
then expose the incongruity of their statements; this was
called "Socratic irony", which is expressed with his famous
phrase "I only know that I know nothing"
At the same time, he was able to bring such unity to the
plane of knowledge, by maintaining that virtue is knowledge
and vice ignorance.

His nonconformity prompted him to oppose popular

ignorance and knowledge of those who called themselves
wise, although he himself did not consider himself wise,
even though one of his best friends, Querephonte, asked
the oracle of Delphi if there was someone wiser that
Socrates, and the Pythoness replied that there was no
Greek wiser than he. Upon hearing what happened,
Socrates doubted the oracle, and began to look for
someone wiser than him among the most renowned
characters of his time, but he realized that in reality they
thought they knew more than they really knew.
The socratic method

Apart from a brief spell in the army, it is not clear how

Socrates earned a living; but he attracted a group of young
men, who came to learn and study with Socrates. Socrates
sought to teach through a path of self-enquiry. He did not
claim to have the answers; he would merely ask questions
to his students, forcing them to think for themselves and
question their own dogmas and beliefs.
To this day, the Socratic Method is still used in classroom
and law school discourse to expose underlying issues in
both subject and the speaker.
 Trial and death

After Athens lost to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, a group of

men called the Thirty Tyrants were put into power. One of the
leading members of the Thirty Tyrants was a student of Socrates
named Critias. The men of Athens soon rose up and replaced the
Thirty Tyrants with a democracy. Because Socrates had spoken out
against democracy and one of his students was a leader in the
Thirty Tyrants, he was branded a traitor. He went on trial for
"corrupting the youth" and "failing to acknowledge the gods of the
city." He was convicted by a jury and was sentenced to death by
drinking poison.