Socrates is arguably the most influential
philosopher of all time.
His ideas not only changed the course of history,
but laid the groundwork for what is today
considered Western philosophy.
So who was Socrates?
Well, Socrates was born in 469 BC, and spent
nearly all of his life in Athens, Greece.
The city was then at the center of Greece’s
‘Golden Age’, a time of rapid development
and democratization.
He was a soldier, then a stonecutter, before
devoting his life to being a philosopher,
which literally means “lover of wisdom”.
But little else is known about Socrates’
upbringing, or the rest of his life, because
he didn’t actually write anything down.
In fact, everything we know about him is through
the writings of his contemporaries, most famously
his student, Plato.
Plato published a series of ‘dialogues’,
in which Socrates deliberates with politicians
and townspeople in Athens.
In one of Plato’s most famous works, the
Symposium, Socrates and his interlocutors
[in-ter-loc-u-tors] discuss the nature of
love.
Socrates claimed that everything he knows
about love was taught to him by a wise woman
named Diotima.
According to Diotima, love is neither physical
or divine, and it cannot be described as good
or beautiful.
Instead, love is the the desire for something
- it is the spirit of seeking something - like
people, objects, children, or beauty.
Socrates concludes that his relentless pursuit
of ideas makes him a lover of knowledge.
Socrates had plenty of ideas, but he didn’t
claim to actually know anything.
In fact, he famously said [quote] “true
knowledge exists in knowing that you know
nothing”.
In an attempt to uproot ignorance, which he
saw as a danger to society, Socrates acted
as Athen’s ‘gadfly’.
That is, he went around the city pressing
people on their beliefs, ultimately exposing
that they knew nothing.
This process of gradual questioning - more
commonly known the socratic method - is perhaps
Socrates’ greatest contribution to the academic
world.’
It is used as a form of critical discussion
in English and Law classes, and its influence
led to the invention of the scientific method,
which is similarly based on challenging hypotheses
in an attempt to question their validity.
Socrates forced Athenian politicians and social
elite to question their own truths, and in
more than one instance, publicly embarrassed
them.
He was also an open critic of the city’s
newly formed democracy, as he said it would
ultimately lead to the election of tyrants.
As you can imagine, this didn’t go over
well in Athens, and Socrates was very unpopular.
In 399 BC, he was charged with not believing
in the Athenian gods and using his ideas to
corrupt the youth and was sentenced to death
by poison.
But Socrates didn’t resist the verdict,
as it was part of the social contract he had
tacitly accepted by being a citizen of Athens.
Socrates forever changed what we think of
as Western philosophy.
What was once an attempt to understand the
world around us is now largely an examination
of our inner motivations and values.
Socrates’ method of relentless hair-splitting
paved the way for other historical gadflies,
like Martin Luther King, to be vocal critics
of their own political system.
But because Socrates never wrote anything
down and rarely revealed his own opinions,
historians have struggled to come to a consensus
on even his most fundamental teachings and
biographical events.
Plato’s dialogues are the most comprehensive
account of Socrates’ beliefs, however some
scholars suspect them to be Plato’s own
ideas, relayed through his teacher.
To this day, it’s still unclear whether
we really know anything about Socrates at
all.
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As an intellectual center for philosophers,
Athens, Greece played a pivotal role in the
rise of Western philosophy.
But has Greece remained an influential country
in the world?
Exactly how powerful is Greece?
Find out in this video.
Most of the economy is based on the service
sector as well as merchant shipping and tourism.
Greece's important past and large number of
UNESCO world heritage sites make it an extremely
lucrative tourist destination.
Tourism brings in roughly 15% of the country's
total GDP.
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