Socrates

Master of the Path

The name of Socrates is synonymous with Philosophy and the pursuit of truth. Along with Pythagoras, he can rightfully be called the father of Philosophy as a whole. Despite every intervention of the enemy in the past two millennia to wipe out all traces of Antiquity, there is perhaps no figure in history that has been so influential on every kind of discipline and every school of thought, a testimony to the radiance of his character and abundance of his mind.

YOUTH

He was born in Athens when it was coming into the apex of its power as a state and empire, the primary power of the Mediterranean. Socrates’ family came from the hippeis class of equestrian aristocrats and had significant clout in the city, hence why he was trained in the arts (mousike) as a boy. The traditional story elaborated from certain later sources of his father being a humble stoneworker is allegorical.

During the years of his latter boyhood, he was also known as a prodigy in several areas due to this type of creative training, an area he returned to much later in life. At this point, the philosophy of Anaxagoras became something of an investigation to him.

As a young man, Socrates participated in the years of military service necessary to acquire citizenship as a hoplite who served the Athenian state in several battles. In fact, Socrates was known for his prowess as a warrior in battles well into advanced adulthood during the Peloponnesian War far later on.

When I was ordered to march along with others to Potidaea and Amphipolis and Delium, where I remained, as any other man would, at my post and ran the risk of death, I acted as I ought and obeyed the command of the city.¹

Even at this early point, however, his fellow soldiers remarked on his bravery and moral fortitude, in spurning every customary form of corruption associated with the military. If any phrase could be applied to Socrates, it was "death before dishonor"

THE WISEST OF MEN

According to the traditional story, Socrates’ friend Chaerephon went to the Temple of Apollo. The oracle insisted that Socrates was the wisest man in Greece, a repetition of what had happened with Myson many years before; something that Socrates felt was impossible as he felt he did not know enough about many areas of life, particularly the realm of human conduct. From this point onwards, Socrates devoted himself to the cause of acquiring Wisdom in that realm, the realm of the affairs of people.

Penetratingly and pointedly, his sole focus became the art of understanding this idea in the realm of human conduct, opposed to deductions about the universe and cosmos as formulated by Anaxagoras and other prior philosophers, which Socrates found wanting; this pursuit of the Path became something of a design for life to him — he was interested in the why of human behavior and how it aligned with the eternal Good.

Grasping the integral light of his mission, after his thirtieth year, Socrates completed the Eleusinian Mysteries involving the trials of the Great Goddess. The insights he gained about the nature of the soul left an additional extreme imprint on him. His abilities were enhanced significantly and somewhere around this point Socrates gained certain insights from the Gods via what he called his ‘sign’ or daimonion. The themes of death and rebirth prevalent in the rite imparted to him left a deep impression on how to conduct himself in everyday life. The pursuit of what it meant to follow true moderation, however nebulous it seemed, glittered in his mind.

Although traditionally Socrates was held to lack meaningful power as a wandering philosopher, he was in reality somewhat of a power player in Athenian politics. The office he served on the Athenian Boule was equivalent to a senatorial rank, thus serving on this office gave his decisions some power. A highly notable figure, he also gained many followers among the Athenians and from various parts of the world due to the lustre and beauty his name carried around the world, all in spite of the general modesty of his lifestyle and no physical school extant to teach his ideas.

Socrates sought to impart the basic wisdom of the Gods to Athenian society by encouraging something he felt was closer to godliness. What he was concerned with was breaching the quickest pathway to being an upstanding soul. The calling of this path he held in contrast to the appetites of the regular Athenians obsessed with the levelling spirit of democracy, superstitions around the Gods, excess in their material lives, cruelty towards the enemies of Athens and often just general wantonness.

Revealingly, he was known to wander around the Great Agora of Athens, approaching the powerful purchasing luxuries and asking questions such as "is that what you need?"

Having reservations about the character of Athenian society as it existed and the direction it was headed, he remained ambivalent to the intrigues of the wealthy and the powerful surrounding him in government. At the time Socrates started to become famous, Athens was entrenching its power and prestige in all areas due to Pericles’ rulership, the so-called Age of Pericles. Although he held Pericles with some esteem, Socrates was unmoved by the spirit of the era. In one of his dialogues, the Critias, he shows doubt about the methods in which politicians such as Pericles gained power, regarding rhetorical speakers and demagogues as having a partially illegitimate vocation based on deception.

During this time also, in the stead of Protagoras and Anaxagoras who quickly became legendary, philosophers known as ‘Sophists’ proliferated in Athens, some of whom were charlatans and were paid extortionate amounts of money for people to simply gain basic insights. Others simply deployed arguments with flourishes of rhetorical tricks to confuse people: their ideas were often misleading. Socrates stood opposed to the less scrupulous of these men and chose his students through insight into their true potential, regardless of their initial origin. It was this inability to be corrupted that endeared him to many of the people of Athens and beyond.

SOCRATIC METHOD

The Socratic Method is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue that uses questioning to stimulate critical thinking and expose underlying assumptions. The method involves a teacher or interlocutor posing a series of guided questions to a respondent, with the aim of refining or dismantling their beliefs through reasoned inquiry. Rather than delivering knowledge directly, Socrates would ask probing questions.

Exchange is an important element of the Socratic method. Socrates insisted in every dialogue he was intervening as a participant to learn more. In the Charmides dialogue, for instance, he discusses the notion of sophrosyne, a divine quality associated with tempering one’s mind and acts. In this dialogue that he holds with Critias and the youth in Athens most known to him as embodying all the qualities of sophrosyne, for instance, he discusses several scenarios and definitions of this term before coming to an impassé and admitting he has no idea what sophrosyne actually is.

In another dialogue, the Ion, Socrates confronts a rhapsode (one of the performers of the Epic works of poetry in Athens) named Ion of Ephesus who claimed an insight into Homer’s writings yet cannot rationally explain why he is able to do so convincingly as he has no experience of the subject matter of the Iliad. Through questioning relentlessly, Socrates hints that there is nothing particularly rational about his gift in this area and such creativity is a matter of channelling the divine.

The dialectical process of such dialogues often leads to aporia, a state of puzzlement or realization of ignorance, which Socrates considered the beginning of genuine philosophical insight.

Socrates had certain disagreements with his own associates, such as Aristippus, who viewed self-mastery in the face of experiencing luxury to be a superior path. These philosophical differences between Socrates and those inspired by him demonstrate limitless paths in approaching the Gods, standing in contrast to the sectarian conflicts over theological nitpicking and moral scruples culminating in mass murder that would later characterize the Christian period.

These dialogues also involve certain levels of mystery and statements that can be interpreted in a very deeply intricate manner relating to matters of the universe. Some of these were knowing contributions of Socrates himself, yet others were fashioned by Plato paraphrasing his teacher’s words.

HOSTILITY

The glory days of Athens were indeed short-lived, as the Peloponnesian War instigated by Sparta created a two-decades long war that was a disaster for the Athenian hegemony and led to multiple coups against the democracy. Socrates fought valiantly in the Battle of Potidaea, Delium and Amphipolis in service to the Athenian state but still refused to endorse the ideology of the democratic system.

The philosopher subsequently garnered a hostile audience during the war due to the relationship of his ideas to certain developments of the waning power of Athens. Alcibiades was one of Socrates’ most prominent associates: he had separated from Socrates’ advice and became a major figure in Athenian politics. Being inclined to some profligate tendencies and not particularly loyal, he then became a traitor serving Sparta, defected to the Persians and finally installed himself in a coup in Athens, pursuing more military victories against his former allies.

At the Battle of Notium, this came undone dramatically and democracy returned to Athens in a fulcrum of chaos but also divested the city of its most capable military commanders associated with the wily Alcibiades. Buttressing these accusations was that two other disciples, Critias and Charicles, soon would become infamous rulers after having parted with their teacher.

Accusations therefore continued to follow Socrates. After the victorious Battle of Arginusae where a number of triremes drowned due to a storm, for instance, the Athenian leadership and the masses wished to put eight generals who had failed in their duties to death: Socrates opposed this and named it as an illegal act that would render Athenian hands covered in blood.

Due to the excellent leadership of Lysander of Sparta, Athens suffered a crushing blow at the Battle of Aegospotami. The allies of Sparta even threatened to destroy and level the city forever. Sparta, however, simply made Athens into a puppet state and installed a dictatorship now known as the Thirty Tyrants, led informally by Critias. He became one of the most infamous tyrants of Athens and brutally executed thousands of individuals, acts which Socrates opposed. Due to his vocal opposition, Critias even censored Socrates with a series of ridiculous laws.

Critias was soon deposed in another orgy of violence. As Athenian democracy was restored, Socrates simply continued to speak out at length against the nature of the Athenian democracy as virulently as he had attacked the Thirty Tyrants. Consequently, certain powerful individuals in Athens such as Anytus, a self-made man who was a strong proponent of democracy and egalitarianism, began to hold Socrates in suspicion.

Others in Athens who had fell into a secular lifestyle characterized by power plays felt threatened by Socrates insistence of communion with the Gods: his views on what was truly divine, and the obvious brutal decline of Athens made them feel anxious about their positions, possessions and patronage. Furthermore, the apparent relationship of Socratic ideas to Alcibiades’ treachery and Critias’ tyranny seemed like a viable reason to some to condemn Socrates.

Among many other reasons, this led swiftly to Socrates’ trial via informants of the state. He was accused of introducing new Gods not legally licensed by Athens, corrupting the youth and subverting institutions. A valiant defense was mounted by Socrates who acted as his own advocate. When accused of corrupting Critias and Alcibiades to become tyrants, Socrates replied that Athens itself had actually corrupted them.

Knowing some very powerful people in his corner, he could have escaped at any moment, but he chose to resign himself to fate to set an example to all generations beyond. There was nothing more to learn, to question or to be said.

Surrounded by his beloved followers, he took the poisoned chalice and passed into eternity.

Socrates gained a certain following in the Hellenistic world following his martyrdom, however, the main area in which his dialogues proliferated were during Alexander’s conquests and among certain influential Romans who had taken certain rites. It is obvious in how Alexander the Great pursued conquest that he adhered to the ideas of the Republic rigidly.

XANTHIPPE

Xanthippe was the wife of Socrates. As with everything that the great philosopher embarked on, Xenophon claims Socrates chose her as she was the most difficult, witty and irascible woman in Athens known for causing public disputes and dismissing philosophers as idle do-nothings, meaning that in the opinion of many just to be with her was an arduous task. She was also strongly independent with little desire to fulfil a typical role.

Socrates was ambitious, however, and broke himself off from the path of many men who choose ease or luxury in the most intimate matters. Philosophy for him was incarnated in his interactions with his wife. His commitment to understanding the morality and character of people even extended to the most private sphere in wedding Xanthippe, sometimes with quite comic effects:

When Xanthippe first scolded him and then drenched him with water, his rejoinder was, “Did I not say that Xanthippe’s thunder would end in rain?” ²

Another account by Athenaeus involved her smashing a cake that Alcibiades sent to his master, and Socrates’ response was to say “well, now you won’t have any of it either.”

Yet scarcely understood as it was to others, he could see the refinement of Xanthippes’ mind and the luster of eternal loyalty behind her unpredictable temperament. Showing their eternal love and care for one another, it was her who was with him and by his side, lamenting the situation.

His novel approach to women is summarized in the parallel of his wife:

ἡ δὲ λαμβάνουσα ἅμα τε ὠρχεῖτο καὶ ἀνερρίπτει δονουμένους συντεκμαιρομένη ὅσον ἔδει ῥιπτεῖν ὕψος ὡς ἐν ῥυθμῷ δέχεσθαι αὐτούς.

Καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης εἶπεν· Ἐν πολλοῖς μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες, καὶ ἄλλοις δῆλον καὶ ἐν οἷς δ᾿ ἡ παῖς ποιεῖ ὅτι ἡ γυναικεία φύσις οὐδὲν χείρων τῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς οὖσα τυγχάνει, γνώμης δὲ καὶ ἰσχύος δεῖται. ὥστε εἴ τις ὑμῶν γυναῖκα ἔχει, θαρρῶν διδασκέτω ὅ τι βούλοιτ᾿ ἂν αὐτῇ ἐπισταμένῃ χρῆσθαι.

Καὶ ὁ Ἀντισθένης, Πῶς οὖν, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, οὕτω γιγνώσκων οὐ καὶ σὺ παιδεύεις Ξανθίππην, ἀλλὰ χρῇ γυναικὶ τῶν οὐσῶν, οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τῶν γεγενημένων καὶ τῶν ἐσομένων, χαλεπωτάτῃ;

Ὅτι, ἔφη, ὁρῶ καὶ τοὺς ἱππικοὺς βουλομένους γενέσθαι οὐ τοὺς εὐπειθεστάτους ἀλλὰ τοὺς θυμοειδεῖς ἵππους κτωμένους. νομίζουσι γάρ, ἢν τοὺς τοιούτους δύνωνται κατέχειν, ῥᾳδίως τοῖς γε ἄλλοις ἵπποις χρήσεσθαι. κἀγὼ δὴ βουλόμενος ἀνθρώποις χρῆσθαι καὶ ὁμιλεῖν ταύτην κέκτημαι, εὖ εἰδὼς ὅτι εἰ ταύτην ὑποίσω, ῥᾳδίως τοῖς γε ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις συνέσομαι.

Καὶ οὗτος μὲν δὴ ὁ λόγος οὐκ ἀπὸ4 τοῦ σκοποῦ ἔδοξεν εἰρῆσθαι.

She [the girl dancer] took these and as she danced kept tossing them whirling into the air, calculating how high to throw them as to catch them in a regular rhythm.

So Socrates said:
“In many ways, gentlemen, and especially in what the girl is doing, it is clear that the female nature is in no way inferior to the male—what it lacks is judgment and strength. So, if any of you have a wife, let him confidently teach her whatever he wishes her to be skilled at.”

Then Antisthenes said:
“Well then, Socrates,” he said, “if you think that way, why don’t you educate Xanthippe? Instead, you live with a woman who, I believe, is the most difficult of all women—past, present, or future.”

Socrates replied:
“Because I see that those who want to become skilled horsemen don’t choose the most docile horses, but the spirited and headstrong ones. They believe that if they can handle those, they will easily manage any other horses. In the same way, I wish to deal with people and interact with them, so I have chosen to live with her, knowing full well that if I can endure her, I will find it easy to associate with anyone else.”

And this response was thought not to be off the mark.³

She was also mother of their three sons: Lamprocles, Sophroniscus, and Menexenus. When Alcibiades questioned the philosopher about why he put up with her rages and said he only put up with crowing of geese because they gave him eggs, Socrates retorted that Xanthippe was the mother who bore his children.

MISAPPROPRIATION

It should not come as any shock that Socrates’ life was heavily stolen from and appropriated for the fictional drivel of Jesus Christ, a matter that even medieval scholars held was a strong possibility. Such appropriation was a deliberate psychological weapon in late-stage Rome.

The Catholic Church long appropriated Socrates’ attitudes to push life-denialism, resentment and complete deprivation, the model of an ideal monastic hermit. Although some Christians such as Tertullian held all Greek philosophy to be worthless, various authors held Socratic attitudes to prefigure Christianity and praised Socrates for profaning the pagan beliefs.

When one carefully reads the texts, Socrates says to indulge in food, drink, sex, social matters, luxury and so on when needed by the body, instead of doing so in a manner that creates endless distractions from the divine. As the model soldier himself, he also details in the Republic the purpose of war and violence, which is to cultivate virtue and a cohesive state.

Socrates never acted as the Nazarene acts. Every allusion by him is a question, not a dogma.

Many of these issues in our modern world have simply been flipped on their head. In contrast to the aggressive and bellicose attitudes of Athenians who were puffed full of power, Westerners have embraced a path of zero conflict, self-annihilation and of worshipping weakness since the advent of Christianity. Critics of Western society such as Nietzsche therefore aimed a certain amount of venom at Socrates based on this erring perception of Socrates as an idol of life denialism, especially in the Victorian context.