Socrates - Father of Western Philosophy Documentary

The Man known to history as Socrates or socratis in Greek was born between 470 and 468 BC in the village of alopi a suburb of the Greek city state of Athens which lay just to the southeast of the city walls despite the fact that he is one of the Undisputed intellectual fathers of Western civilization and one of the most consequential philosophers and thinkers in history Scholars actually know shockingly few biographical details about Socrates for certain his father sofronis was described in some sources as a stonemason or sculptor and his mother fite was said to have

been a midwife at first glance these details seem to suggest that Socrates had a working class upbringing which was probably not the case as one of the most famous public Educators in Athens during his time Socrates almost certainly received an Elite Education as a Young Man furthermore his close friends and colleagues were some of Athens wealthiest most prominent and most influential citizens something that sounds particularly unlikely for the son of a low status workingclass family even at the dawn of Athenian democracy this set of suppositions is just one example of the primary means by which

modern Scholars have attempted to construct a biography of the historical Socrates this task has proven difficult and endlessly frustrating for historians because of the relative lack of reliable sources a major barrier to our understanding of Socrates is that he left behind no writings of his own all we know of him is what other ancient Scholars and chroniclers wrote about him some of these sources are considered more reliable than others although virtually none of them can be considered conclusively authoritative by modern standards for various reasons a majority of historians tend to treat with greater acceptance the

biographical details about Socrates which appear in the dialogues written by Plato and xenophon because both of these writers were pupils and Friends of Socrates himself memories of Socrates would have still been relatively fresh for the people of Athens when dialogues like Plato's apology and creto or xenophon's memorabilia were first published roughly 10 to 20 years after his death it stands to reason that if the biographical accounts of Plato and xenophon had diverged dramatically from what Athenians remembered of Socrates conduct his teachings or his trial and execution rebuttal likely would have appeared in the literary and

historical record Plato and copon therefore May more accurately represent the historical Socrates than other sources most of which were written many more decades or even centuries after Socrates died by ancient Scholars such as Aristotle diogenes leus and Pluto have you ever wondered what is consciousness and how did it come into being these questions are among the greatest Unsolved Mysteries of science for centuries scientists and philosophers have been mystified by the connection between mind and matter in his groundbreaking new book The Dawn of Mind Dr James Cook Oxford trained neuroscientist and friend of this channel offers

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including your role in existence so if you're interested in discovering the nature of your own mind follow the link in the video description and pre-order the dawn of Mind how matter became conscious and Alive by Dr James Cook coming 3rd of December 2024 all this being said there is still reason to read the dialogues of Plato and zenfon with a certain amount of skepticism regarding just how accurately they may have depicted or quoted Socrates both writers would have been subject to bias because he was their beloved teacher and mentor and indeed their reverence for Socrates

wit and wisdom is ready apparent in these texts however it is also possible that these authors may have shaped the words and actions of Socrates for their own rhetorical or literary purposes this is not to say that either Plato or xenophon or any other ancient writer historian or chronicler might have done so with malicious or particularly fraudulent intent some historians have noted that it was common in the literature of the ancient world to pay tribute to important people either by crediting them with heroic Acts or admirable ideas or even by writing something in their name

some writers might even have put their own words into the mouths of more famous respected or beloved figures in order to lend legitimately to their own thesis and ideas which many scholars believe both Plato and xenophon did in some of their dialogues about Socrates with all these considerations in mind attempting to reconstruct the historical Socrates might seem to some like an exercise in futility since none of the extant sources can be considered reliable by modern standards yet this certainly hasn't hindered historians from trying and numerous writers and researchers throughout the last 2 and a half

Millennia have continued in spite of these challenges to pursue a clearer picture of Socrates very little is known about his early life and Adolescence but historians have attempted to reconstruct a picture of it with the scant few details available in the socratic Cannon combined with our historical knowledge of the lives of boys and men in classical Athens the village of alopi where Socrates was born was home to roughly 3,000 people a little more than a third of whom were Athenian citizens only Freeborn Athenian men were eligible for citizenship the rest of the population of the

Dee or Village of alip would have been represented by slaves women children and non Athenian foreigners none of whom were eligible for citizenship the life experiences of Socrates that are known to us indicate that he himself was almost certainly an Athenian citizen that he attained citizenship himself likely means that his father sopon iscus was also an Athenian citizen now that said sofronis as a skilled Tradesman probably did not come from a particularly affluent or aristocratic background the relatively privileged youth that his son Socrates seems to have enjoyed however suggests that he had achieved some financial

success in his profession and had achieved some social standing in his community sofronis counted highly influential and Wealthy Athen Ians among his friends such as lmus the son of the Athenian Statesman aristides the just if sofron iscus was indeed a stonemason or sculptor he was probably not a lowly Artisan or laborer but perhaps the foreman of his own shop or Quarry the Master Mason descriptions of Socrates mother fite suggest that she was better born than sren iscus another factor which points to the probable professional and social success of her husband we know even less about

fite than we do about sofronis in one of pl's dialogues Socrates referred to her as a Maya or Midwife but it is unclear if this was meant in a literal professional sense some Scholars wonder if Socrates was not speaking metaphorically and referring instead to a matronly or nurturing quality in his mother Athenian married women even those of high social standing had numerous domestic duties which suggests that such women might not have had much time to dedicate themselves to pursuing a profession however according to one study of a small sample of ancient inscriptions the majority of

the professional midwives identified in Classical Greece were Freeborn women of respectable status if not high social status such women even published medical texts and lectured publicly in their area of expertise so it's possible that ferite might have been a legitimately practicing Midwife at one point or another in her life there was no such thing as organized public education in Athens in Socrates day he would have learned to read and write at home with a tutor most likely an enslaved non- Athenian Greek or other Foreigner taken captive in war almost all Athenian families of middle class

or upper class status owned at least a few slaves and some of these individuals were tasked with educating the family's children until the age of 12 teaching them primarily to read and write and perhaps also to do basic arithmetic the male children of Freeborn and affluent Athenians during the fifth century BC seemed to enjoy a good deal of freedom and stimulation while they were expected to be silent and docile in adult company boys nonetheless often accompanied their fathers into public spaces and adult forums Young Socrates likely attended theatrical Productions religious festivals athletic contests informal public

debates or even Banquets at the homes of family friends with his father Athenian culture also placed marked emphasis on physical health and Leisure and thus games Sport and exercise would have been valued and were encouraged for boys of all ages Athenian boys learned to swim and to wrestle they played games of chance against one another with knuckle bones much like dice games by the age of 12 Athenian boys of middle to high social status usually began attending lessons in gymnastics and music training at the gimnasia was emphasized as necessary not only for personal health but

to build strength and fitness among young upand cominging male citizens who would be required to serve in the military music studies in classical Athens were far more comprehensive as a subject area than they are today not only did the study of Music involve learning to play an instrument such as the liar the flute or the owas a double read pipe but it also involved the Stu stud of dance and poetry under the tutelage of the famed music Master lampos young Socrates learned to play the liar lessons which he resumed once again in middle age when

the musician konos began to instruct him in the newer more Innovative playing techniques in his youth Socrates would have been taught to sing and to dance to memorize and recite poetry by om Pinda safo anac crayon and other lyric poets as we see music studies encompassed not only music and dance but also literature since much lyric poetry was set to music interestingly musicmy In classical Athens offered a good deal of history study and religious education in addition to education in the artistic disciplines of music music and dance this is because the poets were not just

poets but also often historians and the documentarians of the legends of the Gods and music and dance was often instrumental in classical Greek religious rights this period of musical and Gymnastic education in Socrates Young Life probably lasted for two to four years it is also possible that Socrates might have begun apprenticing to his father's trade sometime during his teenage years or early 20s Athenian law required that fathers secure a professional livelihood for their sons by the time they came of age and it was fairly common for boys to pursue the same professions that their fathers

had Socrates may have spent any number of months or years where working as a mason or a sculptor in his father's shop yet even if he did it may not have been something demanded of him but perhaps something he pursued merely to keep himself busy and Fit until he came of age and qualified for military service something that was demanded of every young Athenian male citizen in Socrates day in 454 BC when Socrates was about 15 years old the Athenian assembly voted to remove the treasury of the Delan League from the island of delos to

Athens supposedly to protect it from potential incursions by the Persians whom the Greek member states of the Delan League had together defeated just a few decades before while this immense War chest filled with gold and silver had been con instituted for all of the League's member states who all contributed to it annually for their Mutual defense the rulers of Athens Heracles and the assembly evidently decided that was more a suggestion than a requirement this was the beginning of a series of developments which eventually led to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War Pericles used the Delan

treasury to benefit and beautify the city of Athens which still bore the scars of the Persian Invasion he embarked on an ambitious building program which included impressive public edifices and spaces the crowning Glory of this revitalization project was the parnon the Exquisite Temple of white marble built at top the Acropolis with a magnificent Ivory and gold statue of the goddess Athena Within in the temple Sanctuary no doubt the Masons sculptors and other ston workers in Athens perhaps even Socrates father sofronis received many commissions and benefited handsomely from pericles's building program the Delan League soon began

to break down as its member states grew more and more outraged that their annual tributes intended for the defense of all seemed in head to be simply enriching the city of Athens Pericles soon began to launch military actions against these so-called Rogue States who refused to continue paying tribute rather than a member state in A Confederacy of equals Athens was beginning to conduct itself more and more like an imperialist power and other Greek states such as Sparta and Corinth began to mobilize against Athens and her remaining allies by the time Socrates came of age Athens

would need every available Citizen Soldier ready to face a series of armed conflicts which would continue intermittently for more than 30 years in the meantime Socrates was still completing his education at some point in his mid to late teens the philosopher accelus became a tutor and mentor to Socrates aalos was a student of the natural philosopher anagas who was one of the first thinkers to attribute the workings of the cosmos to Natural rather than Divine phenomena having examined a fallen meteorite anexas theorized that the sun was a fiery Rock rather than the god Helios as

the Greeks believed he further posited correctly as it turned out that Moonlight was merely reflected sunlight he similarly sought to explain phenomena such as volcanoes earthquakes and rainbows as likewise arising from natural processes rather than the Divine wroth or benevolence of the Gods in his travel Journal a contemporary scholar ion of kios report reported that in 451 BC Socrates visited the island of Samos with his tutor araus it is likely that arelos wanted to introduce his young pupil to another one of his own teachers fellow natural philosopher melissus of Samos this trip represents one of

the few instances in Socrates life when he was said to have left his home city state of Athens and may have been comparable to a modern postgraduation tour in Plato's apology Socrates speaks of the fascination he held in his youth for the study of the natural world although he eventually came to view the dawning field of Natural Science as less useful and less relevant to society than other philosophical Pursuits and concerns having mentors and teachers like arelos doubtless helped awaken and Foster in Socrates an empirical bent of mind which would prove crucial to the later

development of his own philosophical framework at the beginning of the Greek New Year after Socrates reached the age of 18 he would have presented himself before the Council of his Dee where he would have attained his citizenship and Independence he would have been eligible to claim any property or wealth held in trust for him eligible to submit for election by lot to public office for example as a magistrate or justice of the peace and eligible to attend and vote in the Athenian assembly at this point in his life an Athenian citizen was mostly free to

do as he pleased in a professional and personal sense in Pericles Athens however the growing need for a robust military force meant that most young men and citizens of Socrates age were called up for military training the fact that Socrates seems to have become a career Soldier for much of his life also attests to his family's comparatively High status the expense of outfitting a hoplight soldier for a military career would have been nearly unattainable to a workingclass Athenian who probably made no more than one drma a day if that the entire panoply of weapons and

armor for a hoplight warrior could cost several hundred drmas to make unless one's father handed down his own armor and weapons to his son new recruits in Athens began their military train training with tours of Duty around the ateka peninsula where they might Patrol The outlying Villages and Athenian Frontier while engaging in regular training exercises while they were learning and building discipline as a unit this method of training allowed recruits to build knowledge while keeping them close to home and relatively safe no sources report fought whether or not Socrates fought in the Battle of Corona

which was the first major conflict of the pelian war he would have been about 22 at the time and of an age most likely to be called up in the literature of the socratic Cannon Socrates is only explicitly mentioned as fighting in two particular battles the battle apota and the battle of delium however these two battles are spaced out over more than a decade and it might therefore be reasonable to assume that Socrates spent a good portion of his life as a career Soldier Socrates was 38 years old when the three-year campaign of Poa began

and 46 years old when the Battle of delium occurred Athenian troops were rarely required to serve so long especially at so Advanced an age which might suggest that Socrates served voluntarily in these campaigns if he served throughout such a length of time voluntarily and during middle age it might also be reasonable to assume that he had also spent much of his younger life in his 20s or early 30s becoming an Adept and seasoned Soldier the image of the warrior poet is probably not one that many novice students of Socrates would expect to encounter considering his

more famous reputation in history as the barefooted shabby dressed witty and goodh humored old intellectual Socrates however seems to have had an impressive Marshal reputation on the battlefield interestingly the name Socrates translates to Safe in strength his tolerance for discomfort pain and extreme temperatures was remarked upon by his fellow troops and Friends he was said to have marched Barefoot and uncomplaining through ice and snow with little more than a light cloak to cover his armor and keep him warm at the Battle of Poa in 432 BC he performed a daring rescue of his young prote

El iades who had foolishly broken ranks and charged the battlefield in pursuit of the fleeing Corinthians when Al cadz impetuously charged forward he did so alone and the rest of his hoplight unit quickly closed up the Gap their comrade had left as they had been trained to do not one of his unit followed him forward breaking ranks in this fashion was Ill advised in deed and could perhaps land a soldier in hot water with his superiors for the shield of each soldier in the line helped guard the body of the man next to him and

enhanced the strength of the line itself against attack breaking ranks put one's fellow troops in real and immediate danger when he saw his young friend fall before a reformed Onslaught by the Corinthians Socrates made the decision to break ranks himself he rushed across the battlefield through the chaos of men hacking each other to bits before he reached alcibiades carefully and gently he bore the young man away along with his armor and Fallen weapons off the battlefield to safety consistent with Socrates reputation for estwing Ambitions for Glory fame or preferment Plato recorded that Socrates insisted that

alcibiades not himself should be decorated for bravery one historian has posited that perhaps Socrates also avoided the adulation because he had in fact put his own unit in danger to save his young friend's life like the image of the warrior the image of the strong daring able and well-built Young Socrates sits in congruously apart from our usual image of him as old bearded and fat with a receding hairline as he appears in his portraits and busts contemporaries of the Elder Socrates even his friends described him as famously ugly a short balding man with a paunchy

middle a broad snub nose thick lips and white widly spaced eyes that appeared to bulge however in the first Bloom of Youth as a career Soldier Socrates probably looked very different years of gymnastics military training if not slinging heavy stones in his father's Workshop would have given him a straight and well-built figure his shortness would have appeared as stockiness and solid strength he might even have been perceived as handsome with his widely spaced eyes broad nose and very full lips situated in a younger face and with what was likely an excellent physique one is tempted

to imagine someone akin to a young Marlon Brando although more than one biographer has sought to explore the figure of Socrates in love we actually know very little about Socrates personal or romantic life although again that certainly hasn't stopped historians from speculating and theorizing one recent biography posits that as a Young Man Socrates might have fallen in love with the famed intellectual aspasia a philosopher herself and the de facto wife of Pericles the textual evidence for this is rather thin it involves accepting that a female figure named diota whom Socrates mentions in Plato's Symposium as

having been his instructress in all matters of Love is in fact aspasia the author points out that only one other woman who appears in any of Plato's other 30 dialogues as instructing any of her male contemporaries including Socrates is aspasia herself in Plato's menexenus she is also depicted as leading philosophical discussions about love while some historians might find this textual evidence a bit of a stretch the circumstantial evidence is somewhat more interesting and perhaps slightly more compelling sometime in his mid-30s or early 40s Socrates became a tutor and mentor to the young Al Cades the

young man he rescued from the battlefield in 432 BC was in fact the ward of Pericles himself who had become alad's Guardian upon the death of his friend clus the boy's father years before it is unclear whether Socrates took alcibiades under his wing before or after the battle of Poa but Plato records that the two were posted together as tent mates and messmates throughout the campaign Al ades was not only Pericles ward he was also a relation of aspasius by marriage probably about the same age as Socrates aspasia arrived in Athens in the early to

mid 450s at which time her sister was married to alcibiades the Elder the grandfather of the younger alcibiades aspasia lived in Athens for 2 years before she settled down with Pericles who was twice her age and had a son with him Pericles the younger during her early years in Athens aspasia quickly developed a reputation for her impressive education intelligence aristocratic bearing and beauty and her Banquets and symposia were attended by some of athens's most prominent citizens and thinkers even Socrates himself if Plato is correct with all this in mind it becomes more difficult to believe

that Socrates did not run in the same Social Circles as Pericles and aspasia and yet if they were friends or at least social contemporaries why is Plato So sparing in his references to aspasia and why is Pericles who at some point entrusted his Ward and the son of his old friend to the care and mentorship of Socrates mentioned only once in any Socratic writings as having known or interacted with the famous philosopher a branch of Pericles family the out Mayon even came from the same Village as Socrates zanthi whom Socrates married in his elderly years

is believed by some Scholars to have been Pericles cousin considering all of these connections one is tempted to view the virtual absence of both Pericles and aspasia from Plato and xenophon as deliberate perhaps it had more to do with the widespread unpopularity that Pericles suffered from later on or the public hostility and resent resentment towards aspasia who was labeled a harlot among many Athenians for her influence over Pericles perhaps neither Plato nor xenophon wanted Socrates tainted by association with these unpopular figures then again A Love Affair between Socrates and aspasia in their early 20s before

she married pedicles might help explain why there are so many any apparent connections between the three but almost no recorded interactions between them in the socratic Cannon while this is all largely speculation it is nonetheless quite interesting new scholarship for us to mull over what is significantly more certain is that Socrates was married twice throughout his lifetime his first wife was named myto the daughter of his father's wealthy friend lysimachus and the granddaughter of aristides the just Socrates is said to have refused to accept a doy from mto's father another factor which argues for his

high status for it likely suggests he did not need it very little is known about merto but she was likely quite a few years younger than Socrates was Plato records that when Socrates died at 70 years old he had two sons approaching manhood this suggests that Socrates eldest son was born when he was in his late 40s or early 50s implying that myto was probably at least a decade younger than her husband if not younger myto and Socrates had two sons manenos and sofronis at some point during his 50s Socrates took a young woman named

zanthe into his household as his mistress when his wife merto later died Socrates married zanthi and they had a son named lles who is apparently still a child of indeterminate age when Socrates was executed in 399 BC all of this being said the details of Socrates marriages are unclear and different accounts suggest Socrates was married exclusively to xanthippi in between his military tours of Duty and months or even years on campaign Socrates pursued his ongoing study and development of philosophy in his beloved Athens Socrates famously ested the pursuit of wealth and never accepted money from

the students he taught some historians believe that Socrates inherited several rental properties from which he derived his income and he would also have been paid a salary and pension for his military service which puts a dent in his reputation as the impoverished intellectual still the image of Socrates with which we are most familiar is the shabby barefooted gen friendly and Urbane Sage about town who walked every day to the Athenian Agora or Public Square to frequent the book sellers converse with his friends argue good-naturedly with acquaintances or take the time to answer the questions of

his pupils here he would not only have kept a breast of all developments in the city but he would also have become known to all Athens from political Elites priests and shopkeepers to artists Artisans laborers and his fellow citizens young and old Socrates regularly attended philosophical symposia at the homes of his wealthy friends some of which are documented in the writings of Plato and xenophon these gatherings were essentially the ancient Greek equivalent of the 18th century French literary Salon in which aristocratic educated intellectually accomplished and avangard members of society met to undertake serious examination and

discussion of a particular point of philosophical inquiry as well as to dine and drink together throughout his career as quite literally a public intellectual known to all citizens of Athens and willing to engage in dialogue with all Socrates developed a body of beliefs and a method of inquiry which became part of the very Bedrock of modern Western Civilization by the time he reached adulthood Socrates was disillusioned by the natural philosophy that had so fascinated him as a younger man the fields of physics and natural science were in their infancy at the time and the few

questions they could claim to answer did not seem to hold much practical or social utility what was the point he wondered of understanding the inner workings of the natural world if they could not answer the universal why of human existence instead he turned his mind towards epistemological and moral philosophy two areas of in qu quiry that he believed were far more consequential to human Improvement happiness and social cohesion epistemology is the study of the nature and origin of knowledge of which Socrates is one of the principal Pioneers what is knowledge Socrates wondered how is it

gained how do we know that the knowledge we possess is true for Socrates knowledge and an understanding of it was essential for the attainment of virtue which in turn e believed was essential for individual human happiness and broader social harmony ultimately the acquisition of knowledge and virtues like justice wisdom courage piety and temperate living would produce individuals who behaved according to what was right and avoided doing what what was wrong people who lived their lives in a morally incorrect way were invariably wretched and miserable Socrates believed while those who lived their lives according to moral

and ethical standards were invariably happy for Socrates The Continuous search for self-knowledge was Paramount the unexamined life he is famously believed to have remarked is not worth living alongside self- knowledge Socrates believed that moral Improvement and the cultivation of the Soul were equally important goals for all people as individuals and as members of their communities in addition to the fields of epistemology and ethics Socrates also pioneered the techniques known to philosophers as the elenos the dialectic and what teachers called the Socratic method this is essentially a question and answer style of conversation Al lenus is

a process of cross-examination designed to expose the inaccuracy of another's belief or hypothesis while the dialectic is a more collaborative question and answer exchange intended to encourage reasoned conclusions or knowledge to Emer merge the dialectic approach is akin to what Socrates pursued during symposia and what teachers who today embrace the Socratic method do in their own classrooms when they use a guided question and answer approach to help the class reach conclusions as a group according to Socrates himself it may have been the use of his elenos technique that caused significant dislike of him to grow

among his fellow Athenians after all few of us find it easy to like people who seem determined to show us that we're not as smart as we think we are while defending himself at his own trial in Plato's apology Socrates narrated a series of events which when they occurred could not have failed to spark public resentment against him for what was probably perceived as self-aggrandisement this episode he describes also appears in Zena's memorabilia orbe it with slight embellishments so The Story Goes a friend of Socrates and fellow philosopher by the name of kapon visited the

Oracle at Deli and asked of her who is wiser than Socrates to the surprise and perplexity of both men the Oracle replied no one is wiser than Socrates this response utterly perplexed Socrates whose first instinct was to reject the notion that he might be the wisest of all men in zenfan version Socrates was present when the article made her famous pronouncement and he was said to have dwelt long and thoughtfully upon the inscription etched above the entrance to Apollo's Temple know thyself this experience Socrates said spurred him to investigate the oracle's claim as thoroughly as

he could believing that he would eventually prove her wrong he described approaching and conversing with many of his fellow Athenians beginning with those generally considered to be the most knowledgeable and accomplished in the city some such as politicians and Scholars he observed however that all of those whom others believed to be the most wise and who believed themselves to be so were invariably unable to conclusively defend their claims to Superior knowledge he then turned to The Artisans and skilled Tradesmen who were indeed wise and competent in their own particular craft Pursuits but held little knowledge

or wisdom about higher concerns though many of them also believed themselves to be wise the difference between Socrates and the individuals he questioned was that he made no claims to the superiority of his wisdom as for me all I know is that I know nothing he famously remarked for Socrates the near impossibility of ensuring that any knowledge constitutes an ultimate and verifiable Truth should encourage intellectual humility the part that he left unsaid was that perhaps this was precisely what the delic Oracle meant when she said that no one is wiser than Socrates no doubt Socrates

used his elenos method in interrogating his fellow a I's claims to wisdom this technique often ends in what is known as aporia which is an unresolvable logical unpass or dead end in an argument as a man who openly claimed he didn't have all the answers Socrates was not out to tell people the right ones merely to show that through the acquisition of knowledge and the use of Reason one could expose the wrongheaded beliefs of of those who thought themselves wise his ultimate lesson was to question everything even supposedly settled knowledge and to be aware that

no matter how impressive one's intellectual attainments might be one always finds oneself once again on the frontier of knowledge unfortunately but quite predictably many of his fellow Athenians took offense at his deconstruction of their beliefs and claims to wisdom and Socrates reduction of their arguments to a state of aporia surely made him many enemies some of which would eventually put him on trial for his life the reputation and fame that Socrates attained during his life in Athens is apparent in the works of not only Scholars but artists too he was caricatured in the works of

Athenian playwrights most notably by Aristophanes in his comedy the clouds which premiered in Athens in 423 BC this play lampooned Socrates as a skinny half mad stringy-haired aesthetic with absurdly high flown ideas about the nature and workings of the heavens and the Earth his character was depicted floating above the stage in a basket suspended by ropes and pulley in which the old philosopher's own flatulence appeared to propel him here and there in some respects we must admit that comedy hasn't changed much in more than 2,000 years Socrates discussion and description of Aristophanes play in Plato's

apology suggests that Socrates might have seen the comedy himself when it was performed in Athens Aristophanes and Socrates were at least friendly acquaintances if not friends if the text in Plato's Symposium is to be believed this text and many others which Plato wrote illustrat that Socrates had a playful easygoing nature and a great sense of humor Socrates may have even thought that aristophanes's play was quite funny at the time time sadly the attributions made to him in such public forums that he claimed Superior knowledge of the heavens and the Earth would come back to bite

him later on several more public marks against Socrates reputation appeared over the next 15 years throughout this period two of his former pupils were involved in political and Military developments consider Ed both reprehensible and treasonous by many Athenians beginning with Socrates beloved young pupil and friend alcibiades elected General at just 30 years old the handsome dashing and boastful alcibiades convinced the Athenian assembly to undertake and give him command of the Sicilian campaign of 415 to 413 BC he persuaded them to commission hundreds of ships the deployment of 10,000 hoplight soldiers and 30,000 Naval men it

was by far the largest and most expensive Force Athens had ever assembled the day after it launched political foes of alcibiades leveled charges against him for profaning the Mysteries he was accused of vandalizing numerous shrines to the God Hermes and for making light of the Gods in public at a masquerade the Athenian authorities sent troops to Sicily to arrest alcibiades who then escaped and defected to the side of the Spartans alad's betrayal brought significant intelligence advantages to the Spartans and utter disaster to the Sicilian campaign resulting in the biggest military loss in troops and ships

in Athenian history up until that point this was a financial disaster which many Athenians blamed for the weakening of their military strength at a particularly crucial juncture of the pelian War Athens was defeated in 404 BC at which time the Spartans installed an oppressive oligarchic Council to rule the for formerly Democratic Athens this body became known as the 30 tyrants who ruled over Athens until 403 BC when they were overthrown by pro-democracy Athenians and the previous regime was restored prominent among the 30 tyrants was a man called critius another former pupil of Socrates when he

and the rest of the Spartan Jun were finally removed from Power pro-democracy Athenians remembered the old association between the old know it all philosopher and his authoritarian pupil the anger against the two young men who many viewed as arched traitors to Athens made Socrates seem Guilty By Association rather than by any action of his own his enemies also noted that Socrates was not censured or punished by critias or the 30 for refusing to arrest a man he knew to be innocent Leon of Salamis who the oligarchs wanted to execute this is the only instance in

which Socrates was known to serve in public office he served a one-year term from 404 to 403 BC and it was likely only the fall of the tyrants that saved him from from their wroth still after all of the upheaval that had been wrought by two traitors to Athens many continued to mutter Darkly about Socrates and to wonder if his pupil's actions were the fault of their Mentor in 399 BC three men of Athens melitus anitus and Lyon laid charges against Socrates for impiety and for corrupting the city's youth they claimed that Socrates had denied

the existence of the Gods of Athens invented new gods that he had claimed to understand the workings of the heavens and the Earth and that he used his talent for rhetoric to corrupt and Lead young people astray to the modern ear few if any of these charges sound like prosecutable crimes however the justice system of classical Athens featured no official prosecutors or defense attorneys all prosecutorial actions were initiated by private citizens the accusers and accused were each given an equal amount of time to present their case this time limit was determined by a water clock

which applied only to the speeches of accuser and accused used the clock was stopped temporarily whenever a witness was called cases were heard by the laws or judges of Athens and verdicts were decided by a jury of 500 Athenians selected by lot the rationale of impaneling such large juries was that it would make bribery nearly impossible Socrates used his allotted time at his verbal skills to defend himself as thoroughly as possible his defense forms the full text of Plato's apology an ironic title given there is nothing apologetic about it Socrates took his time addressing and

deconstructing each charge demonstrating that none were founded in fact he pointed out that he had in the past inadvertently made enemies of his accusers by showing their pretentions of wisdom to be false ins sensed his accusers now leveled charges at him which were based on unfounded rumors suppositions and public propaganda which had been spoken about Socrates at various times over the years the jury found Socrates guilty nonetheless by a slim margin of just 30 votes when his time came to be sentenced his accusers demanded the death penalty Athenian Justice provided that a defendant who was

found guilty might propose their own punishment which a jury might accept since it showed remorse and an attempt at restitution it was also a chance for a jury to use their judgment as to whether the harsher punishment often demanded by accusers was merited Socrates seems to have shot himself in the foot so to speak at this stage of the trial but his reasoning was clear since he said he was not guilty of the crimes of which he was accused to volunteer himself to be punished would be to concede that he had done something wrong which

he had not he had dedicated his life to the cultivation and Improvement of his beloved City giving freely of his knowledge and instruction to anyone who sought it for which he never charged any fees his shabby clothes bare feet and temperate habits could clearly testify to his poverty as he described it which he gladly endured since he viewed all Ambitions for wealth and Glory as leading to unhappiness and corruption in fact Socrates asserted instead of being punished he ought to be rewarded and requested that the city of Athens offer him free meals for life as

public benefactors and Victorious Olympians received this suggestion May well have been a joke but it likely didn't go over well Socrates concluded with an offer to pay a fine of 100 drmas which amounted to about a fth of his estate If This Were unacceptable he said four friends of his who were present at the trial Plato himself keto and his son kobus and apollodorus were prepared to pay a fine of 3,000 draas on Socrates behalf the jury sentenced Socrates to death strangely by a larger margin than the verdict that convicted him when asked if he

had anything to say Socrates spoke directly to the jury to those who had seen the Justice in his defense he offered thanks and praise for their civic and judicial Integrity those who had condemned him he stated had ultimately condemned themselves in the eyes of history and he prophesied that men would always speak of their actions as deliberately dishonorable still as a loyal Athenian committed to the rule of law he accepted the verdict and his sentence Socrates spent about a month in jail prior to his execution which was a rare occurrence indeed since sentences were normally

carried out within a day or two however the day before Socrates trial the annual religious pilgrimage to the the island of delos began the pilgrimage commemorated Theus defeat of the minotour according to tradition until the ship returned to Athens no criminals could be executed in the city Socrates therefore had to wait several weeks for his sentence to be carried out this was a luxury that few condemned people in the ancient world enjoyed Socrates spent the time putting his affairs in order spending time with his family and receiving visits from his friends he was well cared

for by his Jailer who evidently liked him and dreaded having to administer the execution Plato's creto and fedo document the last few days of Socrates life his friends most notably his friend creto urged him to escape from prison he had clearly been unjustly condemned RTO and others argued even his Jailer had offered to let him Escape but Socrates refused to do so he had lived in Athens all his life he said it had given him a life he had valued enough to remain there and to raise his children there in doing so he had tacitly

agreed to accept the laws and the judgments of Athenian institutions despite the fact that Justice had failed him that was no reason to become a law breaker himself by which means he would forfeit all of his integrity and endanger his soul for Socrates two wrongs did not make a right on his last day soccrates spent some private time with his sons and his wife's anthropy he sent them away as the day wore on to spend them from having to witness his execution which was to take place at Sunset he spent his remaining hours on Earth

conversing with his friends on the nature of life and death his beliefs about the immortality of the soul and his conviction that death is not the end he comforted them when some of them began to cry as Sunset approached who can say for sure he asked whether death death is not better than life when his Jailer arrived with a draft of Hemlock Socrates B them all farewell before drinking the poison and laying down on his bed to await the end he spoke his last words to his friend creto before covering his face with a piece

of cloth I owe a to asclepius don't forget to pay the debt Scholars have endlessly debated the meaning of these words aspius was a deified cult hero whom worshippers believed could prevent or cure illness if they made sacrifices to him did Socrates have an actual debt to pay to a deity he believed had previously interceded for him did he perhaps see life as the illness of which he was being cured and asked Kito to make a sacrifice of Thanksgiving for him the debate goes on as do many others relating to the life of Socrates despite

the numerous questions still surrounding him Socrates has achieved a level of lasting Fame and immortality that one can only compare to religious figures in history such as the Buddha Jesus or Lau all four of them were teachers or all placed marked emphasis on self- knowledge and the cultivation of the soul for moral Improvement but alone among them Socrates was never deified this is not to say that Socrates had no influence on religion nothing could be further from the truth Socrates ideas on the nature and immortality of the soul and his views on ethics had incalculable

influence on the early father others of the Christian Church the socratic Canon remains a Mainstay in the libraries of Christian theology Scholars today furthermore his impact on education law and politics is still strikingly evident today Socratic teaching methods are standard in Western classrooms at all levels of education political and legal Scholars continue to argue about exactly where Socrates landed when it comes to democracy versus oligarchy or the social contract theory versus civil disobedience of course not every subsequent philosopher or writer liked or agreed with Socrates ideas most notably Friedrich nicher who famously Savaged the beliefs

of Socrates in his 19th century Works Twilight of the Gods and the Antichrist Socrates greatest gift to us is considered by many to be his championing of empiricism and reason despite his rejection of natural philosophy Socrates never reached any conclusion even those concerning metaphysical phenomena such as the soul without employing a reasoned and logical approach which was always open a question and criticism his epistemological framework for establishing what is true according to what is readily observable would eventually be developed by Aristotle into the first incarnation of the scientific method finally Socrates doctrine of superior Authority

helped establish for the first time that there was a higher authority other than the political or the legal which only offer the threat of force to compel compliance for Socrates the higher authority might be divine or his own moral conscience or perhaps reason itself there is cause to believe that he viewed these entities as quite intimately connected though he refused to escape from an unjust imprisonment and execution and while ultimately his enemies got their own of Flesh Socrates was ultimately triumphant Plato xenophon and other writers immortalized him as a martyr to reason and integrity the

ongoing sech for the historical Socrates continues and while some might call the quest futile considering the paity of sources available and the doubts surrounding their potential authenticity many historians take their cue from Socrates himself even if one of his dialectics ended in an irresolvable aoria with the sense that the answer might never be known or settled that was no justification to cease questioning though a clear picture of the historical Socrates has largely remained stubbornly Out Of Reach Scholars will likely still continue to pursue this most elusive figure who paradoxically looms larger than almost anyone in

the history of Western Civilization what do you think of Socrates does he deserve the title the father of Western philosophy please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching thank you for watching people profiles documentaries Please Subscribe if you haven't already and don't forget to hit the Bell icon to get notifications so you never miss an upload if you would like to watch our videos with no adverts of any kind listen to audio podcast versions of our videos discuss history with other people profiles fans and much

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