Socrates and ancient Greek philosophy

Socrates - Virtue & Truth

Socrates was mostly interested in the issues surrounding virtue and truth. His most intense ideal was not only understanding, but also achieving virtue. He attempted to discover this by means of finding a way towards genuine knowledge and finding universal definitions for these concepts in human life. In his attempt to discover whether virtue can be taught, Socrates then widened his investigations into the nature of this quality. For Socrates, knowledge (and indeed "truth") are closely related. The philosopher believes this to such an extent that he also believes that no human being ever does evil things knowingly. Human nature is to always do what a person believes to be best. Rather than inherent evil, conducting oneself in an unacceptable way is indicative of ignorance. In this way, Socrates believes that all the virtues should be cultivated together.

I believe that the Socratic method aims to eliminate inadequate definitions rather than arriving at agreed-upon definitions for concepts. The method cultivates critical thinking by means of questioning. For Socrates, the truth is uncovered by means of elimination - all answers lead to further questions that aim to eliminate the non-truth, until only the truth remains. It is therefore a process of subtracting rather than addition. In this way, all facts that cannot be accounted for by means of the question "why," are eliminated and a better understanding of the issue in question is achieved. This is why this method of questioning has become so popular in teaching. It cultivates critical thinking rather than simply memorizing material. It stimulates the intellect, understanding, and enables further discussion.

To demonstrate, Socrates addresses the question of piety in a conversation with Euthyphro. The latter gives a very narrow and focused answer when Socrates asks him for definitions of piety and impiety. Euthyphro focuses entirely upon his own experience of life and his profession. Piety is prosecuting the impious. Impiety is not doing so. Interestingly, Socrates does not either agree or disagree. Instead, he widens the issue beyond the law to religion. Asking Euthyphro further questions about the roles of the gods in piety. Here Socrates illuminates one element of Euthyphro's initial answer, the gods, and uses it to further the discussion. Euthyphro is now confronted on the extent of his belief system, which he proves to adhere to without wavering. Socrates then once again returns to the issue of piety. He demands of his student a more "precise" answer.

Euthyphro then provides Socrates with a wider view of the concept; that is a view beyond his own actions and concerns. While Socrates praises him for this, he still does not appear inclined to completely accept this idea before having fully eliminated every irrelevant aspect. By means of questioning, Socrates then attempts to arrive at the core of each issue before either agreeing with or accepting a certain view.

3. With his words regarding the belief in human things, horsemanship, and flute-playing, Socrates is defending his belief in the gods. One of the accusations against Socrates was that he did not believe in the gods, but that he did believe in spiritual things, demigods and the like. He shows this to be as absurd as things such as believing in flute-playing without believing in the players that make the music. The point that Socrates makes is that, in the same way, no person can believe in spiritual and divine agencies without also believing in spirits or demigods.

In this way, the accuser, Meletus, contradicts himself by saying that Socrates teaches and believes in divine agencies without in fact believing in the gods themselves. Socrates shows the illogical nature of this accusation by making the point that one cannot believe in a divine manifestation without also believing in the god behind it. Indeed, it would be as absurd as believing that mules exist without believing in the horses and donkeys that created them. Socrates here correctly accuses Meletus that he in fact has nothing to accuse the philosopher of, and proves himself to be a believer in the religion of the time.

4. Socrates' reaction to his sentence is interesting, while also being in keeping with the philosopher's general views and bearing during his life. He completely accepts the sentence, even while he knows the officials who made the accusations and brought the sentence are corrupt. Rather than lashing out against them, he chooses a peaceful departure. This indicates a number of basic assumptions that Socrates makes about life and death.

Socrates does not assume an inherent "truth" about death. He acknowledges that it can be either complete annihilation or the culmination of the soul in life after death. What he does however assume is that it will probably be good, regardless of which occurs when he dies. He explicates this by addressing both possibilities.

According to Socrates, death as annihilation would be like sleep. This type of sleep will be so deep and undisturbed that not even dreams can intrude upon it. After the turmoil of life, living, and indeed normal sleep, the philosopher believes that death will be an "unspeakable gain." If these were to be true, then death would be like a single night of absolutely undisturbed sleep.