ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

Life of Socrates, 2024

Despite his humble and poor life, with no piece of writing himself, Socrates is one of the most revered and respected names throughout history. This is due to the philosophical and intellectual impacts that he had on people that came after him, with most notable being the Socratic Method. However, because he had no records himself, most of his life is known through accounts of later writers, especially his students, Plato and Xenophon. These accounts would have different deduction on his life, which would lead to "The Socratic Problem". The essay dives into these important details, and uncovers the profound influence that Socrates had on Greece and his lingering impact till this day.

Aither, 2018

This philosophical essay aims to return to the Socratic problem, ask it anew, and make an attempt to find its possible solution. In the introduction, the author briefly discusses to genesis of the Socratic problem and the basic methodological problems we encounter when dealing with it. Further on, it defines five basic sources of information about Socrates on which the interpretation tradition is based. Then the author outlines two key features of Socrates’ personality, aligned with the vast majority of sources: (1) Socrates’ belief that he has no theoretical knowledge; (2) Socrates’ predilection towards practical questions, and the practical dimension of his activity. In conclusion, the author expresses his belief that it is just this practical dimension of philosophy that has been in the ‘blind spot’ of the modern study of Socrates which paid too much attention to the search for his doctrine. The history of philosophy, however, does not only have to be the history of doctrines, but can also be the history of reflected life practices which inspire followers in their own practices while reflecting on them. The author therefore proposes to understand the historical Socrates as the paradigmatic figure of practical philosophy.

Dialogoi: Ancient Philosophy Today

Our aim in this paper is to argue that Socrates is an intellectual character builder. We show that the Socratic Method, properly understood, is a tool for developing the intellectual character of students. It motivates agents towards the truth and helps them to develop the cognitive skills to gain knowledge of the truth. We further elucidate this proposal by comparing the Socratic Method, so understood, with the widely held contemporary view that the epistemic aim of education is the development of the intellectual virtues.

Journal Philosophical Study of Education, 2021

Nehamas (1999) emphatically stresses that Socrates is “not a teacher of arête,” but as educators know well, it is undeniably the case that Socrates is often “perceived as a teacher,” and beyond, held up as a paragon of pedagogy to be emulated and imitated (62). At his trial, Socrates is accused of “wrongdoing because he corrupts the youth and does not believe in the gods the state believes in” (Ap. 24c). Beyond these charges, he is accused, in the manner of Anaxagoras and other Greek physical scientists, of “investigating the things beneath the earth and in the heavens,” and also charged with, in the manner of the sophists, “making the weaker argument stronger,” importantly, Socrates is, according to his accusers, “teaching [/didaskon] these things to others” (Ap. 19b-c). In his defense (apologia), Socrates distances himself from both the natural philosophers and the sophists, such as Gorgias of Leontini, Prodicus of Ceos, and Hippias of Ellis, who all charge fees for their services and usually teach through speeches or didactic methods that communicate or transfer knowledge to their pupils. In light of these remarks, returning to Nehamas, although his accusers, and even his friends consider Socrates a teacher, this offers no valid reason or sufficient evidence for us “to refuse to take his own disavowal of that role as face value” (71). The Greek, “” (didaskalos) defines a “teacher or master” of one or another subject, such as rhetoric, medicine, craft making, or even poetry (Lexicon 2015, 169). With the understanding of the didaskalos related to the type of instruction in virtue (arête) offered by the sophists, it is against the charges of Meletus that Socrates emphatically denies that he is teacher, specifically of the virtues, claiming that he “was never anyone’s teacher” (Ap. 33a).

Unisinos Journal of Philosophy, 2020

The main aim of this paper is to present an interpretation of what Socrates understood by being good for a human being. Starting from the evidence in the Symposium that Socrates himself was a phronimos and sophron person, I seek to show how Socratic ethics is centered on the thesis of the (1) identity of virtue and knowledge, which I articulate with the theme of (2) Socratic ignorance, and (3) the role of Socrates as an educator, to display how Socrates attempted to help people to improve themselves. In order to explore the core of Socratic moral thought, I take into account Penner’s explanation of Socratic intellectualism endorsing his description of what being good for a person means, but not following his conclusions. Then I argue that even if Socrates had held moral beliefs and been to a certain degree wise and virtuous, the moral knowledge, virtue, wisdom or the science of the good that only the gods completely master should not be ascribed to him. Socrates often made profession of ignorance. In the Apology, the knowledge that he admits to having and that makes him wiser than the others is “human wisdom”, that is, the recognition of his own ignorance and, in general, human ignorance about how to live well. Endowed with this self-knowledge, Socrates assumed the educational task to try to free people from the worst ignorance: not to know and to think that you know. Through philosophy practiced as examination by refutation (elenchos), he did his best to lead his fellows to self-knowledge, to take care of their souls, to dedicate themselves to phronesis, truth, and perfection of soul, in sum, to be prudent; this is the only way in which a person would do well, be good and happy.

The Brill Companion to the Reception of Socrates, 2019