Socrates and Philosophy

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates

Socrates: one of the greatest philosophers known to man. He was keen, insightful, rebellious, intelligent, and knowledgable. How did he accomplish so much in his lifetime? How did he become well-known throughout world's history? How did he become such an infamous figure? Thinking. Socrates used his mind as shared his intelligence with the world. His mission was to enlighten those around him and Socrates was certainly successful in achieving his goals. Thinking analytically and questioning were among the several ideas that Socrates left behind in his life.

Socrates was born circa 470 B.C.E and was sentenced to death by his fellow Athenians circa 399 B.C.E (Stewart, 31). Socrates was approximately seventy years old when he was executed (Grube, ix). He was a classic Greek philosopher and is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, along with Aristotle. His main interests included epistemology and ethics (Kraut, 26-27). Epistemology is one of the main branches of philosophy and it "investigates" the nature and quality of human knowledge. Epistemology is also known as the theory of knowledge (Stewart, 168). Ethics dealt with on the basis one thinks an action and/or decision is right or wrong. The life of Socrates is derived from the recorded dialogues of Plato (his disciple), Socrates' student. According to Plato's records, Socrates' father was Sophroniscus and his mother Phaenarete. He later went on to marry Xanthippe and she was much younger than him. Together they had three children, all male: Lamprocles, Sopheoniscus and Menexenus. And Crito, a good friend of Socrates, criticized Socrates for leaving his sons, which is seen in the dialogue Crito (Kraut, 34-39). The career of Socrates is unknown. However, it is a fact that Socrates did not make his living based off of money from teaching philosophy in a sophist school. Socrates denies that he accepting payments for teaching. He refers to his poverty which can be used for proof he did not teach. It is also speculated that Socrates was a soldier in the Athenian military, because he recognizes his military service in the courtroom. (Apology). One could only imagine what Socrates' life was like, the little knowledge the world has about his life, the numerous speculations, and the uncertainty of his life events, all add to his appeal in being one of the greatest philosophers to grace this planet. Little is known about Socrates', yet his teachings continue to live on.

Socrates death is one with a great story. He was on trial in Athens and charged with failure to recognize the gods (recognized by the state of Athens), inventing new deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens with his philosophical teachings. Socrates needed to defend himself, which was formally done through Plato's recording of the Apology. In this dialogue, Socrates explains why he could not give up teaching philosophy. Philosophy was his life, it was what kept him going, it gave him a meaning to life, and was the reason he lived. He tried to reason with the judges and explained that he only taught philosophy to enlighten the people, not to harm them. After all, harming one is unethical and against Socrates' morals. He wished for those people to become more knowledgable and appreciate all that surrounded them. Socrates' strived for them to reach their full potential and receive what they deserved. In all of this, he did not know he was "corrupting" them. He believed that Athens was likely to drift into a "deep sleep," but with his influence and teachings the state could be awakened into a productive and righteous life. However, this is not what the judges thought. The jury believed Socrates should be punished for destroying Athen's society. The consequences were difficult, either Socrates could be exiled from Athens and terminate his teachings of philosophy or be sentenced to death. In Plato's dialogue, Crito, Socrates has an exchange of words with his good friend. In this writing, Crito attempts to convince Socrates to accept the punishment of being exiled to escape the death sentence. However, he cannot do this. Socrates' life was dedicated to philosophy and he essentially stated that if he could not teach, what was the point of living? There was no incentive for Socrates' to live--he devoted his entire life to philosophy. He did not see the point of even living for his family which proves that Socrates' was dedicated philosopher who thought his mission was not over. He still needed (and wanted) to teach more people about philosophy and its importance in society. Socrates believed that if he was forced to give up his wisdom and knowledge he would live and lead an unexamined life, so he was better off not living at all. According to Socrates, it did not make sense for him to be exiled from Athens, only to wander to foreign lands and be a "sleepwalker" like all the other members of society. He would lose himself. In his defense, he presented something different: loyalty to philosophy. In the Apology, it is quite clear how much philosophy was a part of his life and how important it was to him. Philosophy was a fundamental part of society and to live without it.. Socrates would rather die knowing he stood up for something he truly cared about. To Socrates, he did not commit a crime, he did society, and evidently the world, a big favor. What is the favor one may ask? Teaching philosophy.

"All I know is that I know nothing." -- Socrates

Every man has a mission, and Socrates' goal was to simply teach philosophy. There are several reasons why Socrates pursued the occupation of teaching philosophy throughout his life. One of the reasons was because he wanted to enlighten people. This is probably the main reason why he taught philosophy to the people of Greece. He wanted to make sure the people of Athens knew their full potential and how much they could accomplish through just thinking critically and deeply. Enlightening the minds of the Athenians meant showing them a different method of thinking that Socrates used. He had to show them the meaning of life and how to not be so ignorant. Socrates essentially taught his students to open their mind and absorb all the information that surrounded them and his students saw the world in a different light they were not used too. Another reason why Socrates was so keen in teaching philosophy was so his disciples and students could live a moral life. One of his main interests was ethics, which deals with morality, what is wrong and what is right. Through this teaching, one could expect Socrates to talk about society's principles and