Socrates

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Socrates
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Sophists

• Wise mennon-Athenians.
• Professional itinerant teachers. Paid by
  individuals.
• Encouraged skepticism by stressing two-sidedness
  of every question.
• Outlook was superficial and practical
• Aimed at producing cleverness and efficiency
  rather that wisdom and goodness
• Tended to have inflated sense of their own wisdom
  and self-importance

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Sophists

• In order to participate effectively in Greek
  political life, one had to be able to speak
  effectively. Sophists trained Athenian men in
  rhetoric. Skill of clever debate which aimed at
  winning arguments with little concern for the
  truth
• Sophists taught others to persuade. They were
  not concerned with how their pupils used this
  skill. They would teach one to prove anything.
• Sophists gained a reputation of being
  opportunists and men with a lack of principles.

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SocratesReputation

• Not physically attractive
• Enormous personal magnetism
• Extraordinary powers of endurance
• Always walked barefoot
• Would stand in a trance for hours
• Socrates self-control (During Peloponnesian War,
  he stood out of doors in cold from sunrise to
  sunrise)

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Socrates Primary Concerns

• Arêteexcellence in a moral sense
• Virtue
• Soul is the essence of the individual, improved
  by virtue and ruined by its opposite.
• Virtue knowledge
• One could not be virtuous without first knowing
  what virtue is.

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Virtue

• Elimination of ignorance is first step in leading
  men to virtue.
• Men commit evil only out of ignorance.

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Socratic methodAsking questions to show
anothers ignorance.
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Socratic method

• Used questions to point out ignorance of fellow
  Athenians.
• This method caused him to make enemies.
• Socrates was convinced that fellow Athenians were
  ignorant, yet he did not see himself as wise.
• His wisdom lay in the fact that he realized he
  didnt know anything, while they , although
  ignorant, thought themselves to be wise.

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Socratic method

• Socrates profession of ignorance is often an
  example of Socratic irony. Irony is derived
  from Greek word meaning pretended ignorance.
• Designed to confuse one being questioned.
• Socrates did not consider himself a teacher in
  the usual sense.
• Saw himself as an assistant to the birth of
  knowledge.

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Socratic method

• Unlike the sophists, Socrates believed knowledge
  was attainable.
• Yet only real knowledge is that which the student
  attains with the active use of his own mind.
• Purpose was to put young men on right track
  toward truth and virtue.

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Mind of Socrates

• Not creative
• Yet clear, critical, and eager
• Tolerated no pretense
• Conduct and thinking were both logical
• Believed firmly in moral goodness
• Identified goodness with knowledge

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Socrates

• Not merely a moralist
• A sincerely religious man
• Might have believed in a single God
• Believed he had a supernatural voice within him
  that spoke directly to him.
• Spoke when he was doing something wrong, but
  silent when doing something right.

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Socrates

• Ideal companion
• Spent his days in the agora
• All honest seekers of the truth admired and
  revered him
• Was a prophet, but not a martyr

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Historical background

• Athens defeated by Sparta in Peloponnesian War.
• Democracy does not survive.
• Assembly voted to choose 30 men to form a
  temporary govt.
• First step taken by 30 was to rid Athens of those
  politicians whose bad advice had contributed to
  downfall of Athens.

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Historical background

• Ultimate aim of the 30 was to eliminate their
  political opposition
• 30 became autocrats
• Became known as 30 tyrants
• Passed a law that they could put to death and
  confiscate the property of anyone included on
  their list of 3000 citizens

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End of Tyranny

• Tyranny of 30 led to mass exodus of
  disenfranchised Athenians. Socrates did not
  leave.
• Two generals, Anytus and Thrasybulus led a small
  army and defeated the forces of the 30
• Democracy restored

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Restoration of democracy

• Amnesty decreed
• No citizen could be brought into court on a
  charge of political wrongdoing committed before
  the restoration of democracy.
• Only persons excluded were 30 themselves and
  their close associates

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Trial of Socrates

• Took place in 399 BC, 4 years after the
  restoration of democracy
• Socrates was an associate of Critias, the leader
  of the 30.
• Fact that he had remained in Athens while 30 were
  in power did not endear him to democrats in exile

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Two sets of accusers

• Negative public opinionprejudice against
  Socrates reinforced by the comic Aristophanes.
• Three citizensMeletusrepresents offended poets
  and traditional education Anytusrepresents
  politicians and craftsmen
• Lyconrepresents rhetoricians and orators

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Trial

• ProsecutorsMeletus, Anytus, and Lycon brought a
  public action against Socrates.
• Private individuals brought charges there was no
  public prosecutor or District Attorney in Athens.
• Litigants had to state their own case, without
  the help of counsel.
• These three had probably never met Socrates.

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Trial

• Prosecution spoke first
• Defendant replied
• Jury consists of 500 representative citizens
• Jury not chosen any citizen who chooses to show
  up
• Verdict is given by a majority
• King Archon is judge, but he has almost no power.

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Charges against Socrates

• Heresy (Hard to prove b/c Socrates was attentive
  to religious observances.)
• Had corrupted the minds of the youth of
  Athenshe encourages thinking.
• Religious and political hostility. Socrates
  doesnt accept the Homeric view of the gods.
• Socrates is on trial b/c he has put the city of
  Athenscitizen by citizen--on trial in the
  marketplace

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Public caricature of Socrates

• Materialistic natural scientist who substitute
  impersonal physical forces for the gods.
• Sophist. The sophists were both scorned and
  sought after. Socrates dialectical
  question/answer method was confused with the
  debate of sophists.
• Corruptertaught young people irreligion and
  debate.

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Apology

• Means defense or a defense speech
• Apologia means speech before
• Socrates is NOT apologizing or making excuses.
• Speech was not written ahead of time
• Can Socrates hope to educate the crowd of 510
  judges?
• Transcribed by Plato and Xenophon.

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3 parts of Apology

• Socrates defense
• His counter-proposal for the penalty
• Final address to the court

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Terms to understand

• Ethos
• Pathos
• Logos