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INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
SOCRATES (469-399 BCE)
A SYNOPSIS
 

Bust of Socrates

A. The Problem of the Historical Socrates: Basic Sources

• Xenophon (c.431-c.352 BCE)
• Plato (427-347BCE)
• Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
• Aristophanes (c.447-c.388 BCE)

B. Life, Character and Mission

1. Life
2. General Character
3. Divine Mission

• Proclamation of the Delphic oracle: Socrates is wisest among men
• Cross-examination (Greek: elenchus) of “the wise”: politicians, poets, and artisans
• Socratic irony and ignorance

C. Philosophical Practice and Significance

1. Philosophical Practice

a) Development of the anthropological, ethical turn in philosophy initiated by the Sophists; confusion with Sophists

b) Socratic method:

• Dialectical cross-examination (Greek: elenchus)
• Induction (Greek: epagōgē) and universal definition (Greek: eidos)
• Socratic ignorance and irony
• Maieutic: intellectual midwifery

c) Ethical theory:

• Essentialism
• Self-knowledge and ‘care for the soul’
• Socratic intellectualism: virtue (Greek: aretę) is knowledge
• The good (Greek: to agathon) distinguished from the useful or instrumental

2. Philosophical Significance

• Socratic essentialism
• Logical method of investigation: dialectic, induction, and definition
• The philosophical art of living: unity of principle and practice
• Know yourself (Greek: gnothi seauton): universality and uniqueness
• Philosophical martyrdom