who did socrates learn from

Who did Socrates learn from? Socrates wrote nothing. All that is known about him has been inferred from accounts by members of his circle—primarily Plato and Xenophon

—as well as by Plato's student Aristotle, who acquired his knowledge of Socrates through his teacher.

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Who was the real Socrates?

Who was the real Socrates? Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the three greatest figures of the ancient period of Western philosophy (the others were Plato and Aristotle), who lived in Athens in the 5th century BCE.

Was Socrates a real person?

Socrates was a real person; but he left no writings of his own. His student, Plato, gained value by portraying Socrates in a politically correct way, so that Plato wouldn’t face the martyr’s death that Socrates suffered. I believe there is no substantial basis for doubting the historical reality of Socrates.

Who was Socrates' greatest student?

Socrates had several famous students. Plato, of course, was his most famous student. But he had several other eminent pupils, some of whom went on to write dialogues and establish their own sects of philosophy, for example: Xenophon (well known general and writer) Antisthenes (founded Cynic school) Aristippus (founded Cyrenaic school)

Who was famous Greek philosopher who was student of Socrates?

Socrates’ most famous pupil was Plato (427-348), probably the most influential European thinker. Certainly he was the most copied-out philosopher of the ancient world. Unlike his mentor, Socrates, he clearly had great faith in the written word.

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Who influenced Socrates philosophy?

Plato. Plato was Socrates' most famous disciple, and the majority of what most people know about Socrates is known about Plato's Socrates. Plato was born to one of the wealthiest and politically influential families in Athens in 427 B.C.E., the son of Ariston and Perictione.

Where did Socrates get his education?

Because he wasn't from a noble family, he probably received a basic Greek education and learned his father's craft at a young age. It's believed Socrates worked as mason for many years before he devoted his life to philosophy. Contemporaries differ in their account of how Socrates supported himself as a philosopher.

How did Socrates learn philosophy?

Socrates: Early Years As a youth, he showed an appetite for learning. Plato describes him eagerly acquiring the writings of the leading contemporary philosopher Anaxagoras and says he was taught rhetoric by Aspasia, the talented mistress of the great Athenian leader Pericles.

Who did Socrates study under?

SocratesRegionWestern philosophySchoolClassical Greek philosophyNotable studentsPlato Xenophon Antisthenes Aristippus Alcibiades CritiasMain interestsEpistemology, ethics, teleology13 more rows

Does Socrates believe in God?

Socrates also believes in deity, but his conception is completely different from the typical Athenians. While to the Athenians gods are human-like and confused, Socrates believes god to be perfectly good and perfectly wise. His god is rationally moral. His god also has a purpose.

Who is the first philosopher?

ThalesThe first philosopher is usually said to have been Thales.

Did Socrates teach Aristotle?

How do we know what Socrates thought? Socrates wrote nothing. All that is known about him has been inferred from accounts by members of his circle—primarily Plato and Xenophon—as well as by Plato's student Aristotle, who acquired his knowledge of Socrates through his teacher.

Who is Socrates in understanding the self?

In other words, for Socrates, the soul is the person's true self. In fact, Socrates said that when we turn inward in search for self-knowledge, we would eventually discover our true self. Viewed from this vantage point, the self is our “inner being”.

What are the 3 teachings of Socrates?

Three Socratic Principles, Socratic Method, Famous Sayings of Socrates. We cannot live better than in seeking to become better. The unexamined life is not worth living. Know thyself. >>>

What is the relationship between Socrates Plato and Aristotle?

Plato (428/427–348/347 B.C.E.) studied ethics, virtue, justice, and other ideas relating to human behavior. Following in Socrates' footsteps, he became a teacher and inspired the work of the next great Greek philosopher, Aristotle.

Who is the best philosopher and why?

Aristotle. Aristotle (384–322 BCE), who follows Socrates and Plato as the third member of the great triumvirate of ancient Greek philosophers, is arguably the most important thinker who ever lived.

What does Plato say about Socrates?

Plato's great admiration for Socrates was all the more remarkable because it coexisted not only with a recognition of why Socrates was considered dangerous but also with his belief that Socrates was, to some degree, guilty of impiety and of corrupting the young.

What does Socrates have to do with education?

Again, Socrates insists that education in philosophy is something to be loved and will result in the satisfaction of eros. Similar to the previous education, education (in music, gymnastics, mathematics, and preparatory dialectics) begins in childhood.

What was Socrates formal education?

Answer and Explanation: Socrates had little to no formal education due to his lower rank in society during his youth. He was trained as a stone mason like his father.

How did Socrates contribute to education?

Perhaps his greatest contribution to education is the use of the Socratic Method. With this method, the teacher can make the student sharpen his reasoning faculty, improve his own.

How does Socrates relate to education?

Socrates has long been considered the father of modern education. He believed that as self-learners we must first admit to our ignorance and realise that there is a world of knowledge ready to be accessed, but only once we can accept that we don't already know everything.

Who was Socrates?

Category. v. t. e. Socrates ( / ˈsɒkrətiːz /; Ancient Greek: Σωκράτης Sōkrátēs [sɔːkrátɛːs]; c. 470 – 399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as a founder of Western philosophy and the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought.

Why did Socrates go to trial?

In 399 BC, Socrates went on trial for corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and for impiety. Socrates defended himself but was subsequently found guilty by a jury of 500 male Athenian citizens (280 vs 220 votes). According to the then custom, he proposed a penalty (in his case Socrates offered some money) but jurors declined his offer and commanded the death penalty. The official charges were corrupting youth, worshipping false gods and not worshipping the state religion.

What is the Socratic dialogue?

These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject, and gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make the reconstruction of the history of his life nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem.

How trustworthy is Plato in representing Socrates?

Plato was a pupil of Socrates and outlived him by five decades. How trustworthy Plato is in representing the attributes of Socrates is a matter of debate; the view that he did not represent views other than Socrates's own (known as Burnet–Taylor thesis) is not shared by many contemporary scholars. A driver of this doubt is the inconsistency of the character of Socrates that he presents. One common explanation of this inconsistency is that Plato initially tried to accurately represent the historical Socrates, while later in his writings he was happy to insert his own views into Socrates's words. Under this understanding, there is a distinction between the Socratic Socrates of Plato's earlier works and the Platonic Socrates of Plato's later writings, although the boundary between the two seems blurred.

Why does Socrates use irony?

The mainstream opinion, since the Hellenistic period, perceives irony as a means to add a playful note to Socrates's speech so as to get the attention of the audience. Another line of thought holds that Socrates conceals his philosophical message with irony, making it accessible only to those who can separate the parts of his statements which are ironic from those which are not. Gregory Vlastos has identified a more complex pattern of irony in Socrates, where his words have a double meaning, both ironic and not, although this opinion is not shared by many other scholars.

What is Plato's contribution to Socrates?

Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, from which Socrates has become renowned for his contributions to the fields of rationalism, ethics and epistemology. This Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method.

What was Socrates' last day in prison?

Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of corrupting the youth and failing to acknowledge the city's official gods. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing to escape.

Where was Socrates born?

Socrates was born and lived nearly his entire life in Athens. His father Sophroniscus was a stonemason and his mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife. As a youth, he showed an appetite for learning. Plato describes him eagerly acquiring the writings of the leading contemporary philosopher Anaxagoras and says he was taught rhetoric by Aspasia, the talented mistress of the great Athenian leader Pericles.

What was Socrates' name drawn to?

In 406 B.C. his name was drawn to serve in Athens’ assembly, or ekklesia, one of the three branches of ancient Greek democracy known as demokratia.

Why was Socrates indicted?

The tyrants were forced from power before they could punish Socrates, but in 399 he was indicted for failing to honor the Athenian gods and for corrupting the young. Although some historians suggest that there may have been political machinations behind the trial, he was condemned on the basis of his thought and teaching. In his “The Apology of Socrates,” Plato recounts him mounting a spirited defense of his virtue before the jury but calmly accepting their verdict. It was in court that Socrates allegedly uttered the now-famous phrase, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

What was Socrates' role in the Peloponnesian War?

Socrates avoided political involvement where he could and counted friends on all sides of the fierce power struggles following the end of the Peloponnesian War. In 406 B.C. his name was drawn to serve in Athens’ assembly, or ekklesia, one of the three branches of ancient Greek democracy known as demokratia. Socrates became the lone opponent of an illegal proposal to try a group of Athens’ top generals for failing to recover their dead from a battle against Sparta (the generals were executed once Socrates’ assembly service ended). Three years later, when a tyrannical Athenian government ordered Socrates to participate in the arrest and execution of Leon of Salamis, he refused—an act of civil disobedience that Martin Luther King, Jr. would cite in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

What was the paradox that Socrates helped his students explore?

One of the greatest paradoxes that Socrates helped his students explore was whether weakness of will—doing wrong when you genuinely knew what was right—ever truly existed.

What did Socrates cut in Athens?

Although many of Aristophanes’ criticisms seem unfair, Socrates cut a strange figure in Athens, going about barefoot, long-haired and unwashed in a society with incredibly refined standards of beauty. It didn’t help that he was by all accounts physically ugly, with an upturned nose and bulging eyes. Despite his intellect and connections, he rejected the sort of fame and power that Athenians were expected to strive for. His lifestyle—and eventually his death—embodied his spirit of questioning every assumption about virtue, wisdom and the good life.

What was Socrates accused of?

Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and sentenced to death. Choosing not to flee, he spent his final days in the company of his friends before drinking the executioner’s cup of poisonous hemlock.

How did the world come to know about Socrates?

How the world came to know about Socrates. Socrates was a very peculiar Greek philosopher in the sense that he never wrote down any thoughts of his . He simply spoke out his mind and engaged in intellectual discussions with his followers.

What is Socrates' childhood?

The lack of proper chronicles and autobiography makes it difficult for historians to accurately give details about Socrates’ childhood. What is however known is that, Socrates came from a relatively poor family. His father was a stonemason that went by the name Sophroniscus. Socrates’ mother was Phaenarete- a diligent and hardworking midwife. As a result of his family’s financial hardships, Socrates could not obtain any formal education. He ended up assisting his father at his workshop.

Why did Plato put Socrates in his dialogues?

Furthermore, some historians and philosophers have maintained that Plato planted Socrates’ character in his dialogues to accentuate his views about life. They go as far as saying that the ideas purported to be Socrates’ may have not been the views of Socrates himself.

How does Socratic philosophy differ from its predecessors?

Socratic philosophy sharply differs from its predecessors because it searches for a universal truth. Unlike the sophists, Socrates believed that the law (nomos) never changes. The ideals (FORMS) of justice, beauty, bravery, and honesty remain unchanged.

What did Socrates think of the best form of philosophy?

Also, Socrates believed that the best form of philosophy is one that probes deep and questions the things in this world.

Why did Socrates pass away?

In 399 BCE, Socrates passed away after he was sentenced to death by the Athenians. He was charged with ‘corrupting’ the youth and heresy.

When did Socrates begin thinking deeply about life and morality?

Accounts and dialogues from his students mostly transport us to a time when Socrates was a relatively old man.

What does Socrates say about Meletus?

And so Socrates expatiates on Meletus’ inconsistent accusations of Socrates, namely, that he simultaneously disbelieves and believes in gods. The philosopher knows that the inconsistency had been snuck into the accusations incognito, so that observers may not notice. “ [Meletus] said to himself,” Socrates says, as he begins to expose the accuser’s trickery, “I shall see whether this wise Socrates will discover my ingenious contradiction, or whether I shall be able to deceive him and the rest of them.”

Did Socrates' steelmanning technique change his fate?

At the outset of his trial, Socrates summarizes his perceived wrongdoings and goes on to rebut all of them. Unfortunately, this did not change the philosopher’s fate. But the steelmanning technique has gone on to outlive his mortal coil. I cannot think of one debate that would not benefit from each interlocutor steelmanning her opponent’s position before the pair enter a verbal sparring match.

Why is it important that Socrates reminds Simmias of his ignorance?

Thus, “Socrates here not only reminds Simmias of his ignorance but makes him painfully aware of his ignorance.”. This is important because Socrates wanted people ...

What did Socrates believe about life?

Socrates believed that the purpose of life was to grow spiritually, and philosophically ; he argued that is was important to question and “examine” your values and beliefs in order to determine if they were the correct ones. Socrates’ way of examining people was by using his method of elenchus, in other words, the Socratic method.

Why did Socrates not claim to be wise?

This therefore shows that because they all claimed they were wise this made them not so wise, whereas Socrates never claimed to be wise as he was conscious of his own ignorance about higher matters; thus he had a type of wisdom.

Why was Socrates baffled by this news?

Socrates was baffled by this news as he found it very hard to believe that he was the wisest man. Socrates was aware of his own ignorance; he did not think he was wise. Thus, he decided to attempt to refute the oracle by finding someone who was wiser than himself.

What did Socrates find?

He spoke to people with different profession’s, such as politicians, poets, and craftsmen; however, he found that they only possessed “human wisdom”. For example, the artisans were only wise in their art, but they lacked wisdom in what Socrates referred to as “higher things” or “human excellence.”. Socrates found that:

Why is the Elenchus method important?

Therefore, according to Socrates, the elenchus method is essential as it is a way of testing your lack of knowledge by examining your ideas and beliefs. So even though it does lead to perplexity, it makes you more conscious of your own ignorance and consequently it makes you a better person.

What did Socrates believe was the most valuable thing in life?

For Socrates, knowledge is the most valuable thing in life, however, he believed that it is better to seek knowledge and be conscious of your own ignorance than to claim knowledge that you really do not have. Follow Thoughts and Ideas on Facebook: facebook.com/thoughtsandideas1.

What can I learn from Socrates?

If there's one thing I've learned from Socrates is you can't teach people anything. No matter how hard you try, you're never going to teach them anything. You can only make people think. You help open their eyes and realize what they are capable of. Here are 17 of the best quotes and life changing lessons we can take from Socrates.

Does virtue come from money?

2. Virtue does not come from money. “I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul.

Overview

Sources and the Socratic problem

Socrates did not document his teachings. All we know of him comes from the accounts of others: mainly the philosopher Plato and the historian Xenophon, who were both his pupils; the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes (Socrates's contemporary); and Plato's pupil Aristotle, who was born after Socrates's death. The often contradictory stories from these ancient accounts only serve to complicate scholars' ability to reconstruct Socrates's true thoughts reliably, a predicament know…

Biography

Trial of Socrates

Philosophy

Legacy

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