I want to emphasise the value of caution when using ancient philosophers and texts for contemporary causes. Let us examine how Socrates has been interpreted over the centuries, how he has been used and abused by admirers and critics. We will learn an important lesson: we must be careful in reaching conclusions about ancient and complicated authors - especially ones from whom we do not have any direct authorial sources, such as Socrates, whose words were all written down by others.
Histories of Socrates
Socrates was born in Athens in 469 BC, to a stonemason and a midwife. He fought with distinction in the Peloponnesian war against the Spartans, and served on the Athenian boule or council. He married Xanthippe (who was said to be 'shrewd'), and had three sons late in life. He was not particularly handsome being bald, fat, squat, and pug-nosed - and his walk was more of a shuffle that an athletic gait; but he was convivial and loquacious, and knew many people with whom he loved to talk about serious intellectual matters. He lived in a suspicious and demoralized city which had suffered defeat in the war, followed by a short-lived Spartan-imposed regime called the Thirty Tyrants, a period marked by collaborators, spies and mutual mistrust, and had become cynical about itself. It was a dangerous time to be asking questions. We have nothing Socrates wrote, and indeed he didn't trust written philosophy because you could not interrogate it. We mainly know him from the writings of his student Plato. Plato's early dialogues, Apology, Crito, and Euthyphro are probably close to verbatim accounts of his debates, and several others, such as Meno and Phaedo, are also thought to be close to Socrates' actual words. Socrates died in 399 BC, at the age of seventy, drinking a court-ordered draught of poison after a controversial trial convicted him of being a threat to Athenian society.
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Denne historien er fra August/September 2022-utgaven av Philosophy Now.
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The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.