History of Philosophy: The Man Himself

History of Philosophy: The Man Himself

Socrates and His Most Famous Student

Socrates' Life

Most of what we know about Socrates comes from written accounts of his contemporaries. He didn't write anything himself and many accounts concerning him are contradictory, making any knowledge about his life difficult.

Socrates' Life

Socrates' student, Plato, is the reason we know as much about Socrates as we do. He wrote numerous works with Socrates as the main character, most of which are written as dialogues. There are subtle differences in the way Socrates conducts himself between earlier works of Plato and the later works, causing many scholars to believe that Plato began using the character of Socrates over time to espouse his own beliefs (possibly mixing in some of Socrates' actual beliefs as well).

Socrates' Life

Socrates was an incredibly polarizing figure in ancient Athens. He was apparently admired by the youth and deplored by many in places of power and privilege (such as a group called "the Sophists" by some modern sources and other men of prominence).

​Socrates' Life

​Much of Socrates' life is obscured by the many depictions written by ancient play writers, philosophers, and historians. This is known as the Socratic Problem. There are three main sources we can look at to see the broad idea of this problem: Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes.

​Plato

Plato depicts Socrates as a wandering wise man, often engaging wealthy interlocutors in attempts to find someone who is wiser than he is about different ideals and virtues. Plato describes Socrates debating lofty subjects such as the soul (as in Phaedo) and what it means to be pious (as in Euthyphro).

​Xenophon

Xenophon depicts Socrates as a great soldier and attempts to depict some of his philosophical musings, however, his arguments are less philosophically ​articulate. He admired Socrates for his intelligence and courage on the battlefield (yes, Socrates was a soldier).

​Aristophanes

Aristophanes, a writer of comedic plays, portrays Socrates in his play, The Clouds. In this play, Socrates is concerned with unimportant things, is a rhetorician rather than a real philosopher, and a crazy atheist.​ Many historians agree that this characterization of Socrates isn't trustworthy since it obviously includes a lot of opnion.