Background, Beliefs and Teachings

Socrates was born in Athens. He was the son of poor parents. His father was a sculptor and his mother was a midwife. Socrates was a stone cutter by trade, even though there is little evidence that he did much to make a living. However, he did have enough money to own a suit of armor when he was a hoplite in the Athenian military. He was married and had three (3) sons. He fought in the Peloponnesian War, as a soldier in the Athenian army. After he retired from the army he devoted his time to what he called "divine command". Throughout his life he claimed to hear voices which he interpreted as signs from the gods. He spent much of his time and energy in the pursuit of wisdom. He went about this by engaging in conversation with all sorts of men and women. They would discuss a wide range of subjects such as love, politics, war, friendship, poetry, religion, science, government and moral issues. It appears that Socrates spent much of his adult life in the agora (or the marketplace) conversing mainly about ethical and moral issues.

Socrates rejected the popular conceptions of the Greek gods and their relation to human beings. He believed that a divine providence had to do with the creation of the world. Furthermore, he thought that the purpose toward which this divine providence was directed was the achievement of the good life by human beings. He believed that man was more than just a physical organism; he felt that man's body was a dwelling place of the soul and what happened to the soul was more important than what happened to the body. He made this statement that expresses his moral philosophy: "Virtue is knowledge." He believed that the chief cause of the evil that men do was ignorance concerning the good life. He believed that through the proper development of the mind in its pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness that the goal and purpose of human life can be achieved. He regarded popular opinion as ignorant. He was very critical of the democratic form of government. He felt that people who are called upon to govern the state ought to possess both intellectual and moral qualifications.

Socrates had a tendency to point out the shortcomings of certain officials who were, according to him, unprepared for their duties. He usually received harsh resentment from the officials he had offended. This was the case when Socrates pointed out the shortcomings in Meletus, a member of the governing council. In 399 B.C, Meletus and his fellow aristocrats, Anytus and Lycan, launched accusations at him. They accused him of being a menace to society. They said that he was corrupting the minds of the young and that he rejected the gods of Athens. Meletus also accused Socrates of being an atheist and said that his teachings would eventually bring about the collapse of public morality. At the trial, Socrates defended himself and his manner of living and presented sufficient evidence to show that the accusations brought against him were without adequate foundations. However, when the jury voted, the majority voted against him. Socrates was sentenced to death, by a poisonous plant extract known as hemlock.

According to Plato Socrates' last words were: "The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways - I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows."

Students whom he taught and inspired

There are no written records of Socrates' work. However, through his students who later turned into his peers, we have some works related to him. Aristophanes and Xenophon wrote about him. However, we receive the most information from the works of Plato. Socrates was the chief character in many of his most famous dialogues. Plato, Aristophanes, Xenophon, Euclid, Alcibiades, and many others were people who were inspired by Socrates.

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