The life of the Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC) marks such a critical
point in Western thought that standard histories divide Greek philosophy into
pre-Socratic and post-Socratic periods. Socrates left no writings of his own,
and his work has inspired almost as many different interpretations as there have
been interpreters. He remains one of the most important and one of the most
enigmatic figures in Western philosophy. As a young man Socrates became
fascinated with the new scientific ideas that Anaxagoras and the latter's
associate Archelaus had introduced to Athens. He seems for a time to have been
the leader of an Athenian research circle--which would explain why the first
appearance of Socrates in literature is as a villainous, atheistic scientist in
The Clouds of Aristophanes. Young Socrates also knew the Sophists and listened
to their debates and ceremonial orations. Socrates and the Sophists Neither
science nor Sophistry, however, could answer a new philosophic question that
struck him. The earlier Greek thinkers had been concerned almost wholly with
physics and cosmology until the Sophists suggested that what should be done
instead was to teach young men skills to satisfy their natural self-interest.
Instead, Socrates wondered: "What is a 'self'?" Although "Know
Thyself!" was one of three sayings carved on the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi, the directive proved difficult to carry out. The so-called scientific
views of the time, particularly that of atomism, defined the self as a physical
organ that responded to environmental pressure. Socrates felt, however, that the
Sophists, for all their talk of self-interest, had little curiosity about the
status of a self; they assumed that it was merely an isolated center constantly
greedy for more pleasure, prestige, and power. The Sophists further thought that
the values that people advocated were all conventional, varying from one culture
to another, and that no one would ever act against his or her own interest,
regardless of how many people talked as though they would. This complex of ideas
offered little to explain human nature and excellence. Socrates' Later Life and
Thought Socrates, setting about his search for the self, was convinced of the
importance of his quest. Until educators and teachers knew what human excellence
was, he thought, they were engaging in false pretenses by claiming that they
knew how to improve students or societies. Socrates believed that objective
patterns, or "forms," exist that define human excellence, that these
are neither culturally relative nor subjective, and that philosophic inquiry
could discover them. In the period after Athenian defeat in the Peloponnesian
War, however, the political leaders did not want to be awakened; uncritical
patriotism seemed to them what they and Athens needed. In an attempt to frighten
Socrates away, they threatened to bring him to trial for "impiety and
corrupting the youth of Athens." Socrates stayed and stood trial. In his
Apology, Plato reconstructs his speech to the jury in defense of his beliefs. He
was convicted and executed in 399 BC.