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Ancient greek philosophy influence on western culture
The philosophy of socrates
The life and works of Socrates
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Socrates was a philosopher who taught many young minds. Socrates even taught Plato another great philosopher. This great philosopher lived in the fifth century B.C. Socrates was wrongly accused and sentenced to death, but his knowledge lives on. Socrates was born around 470 B.C. Socrates was born into a poor family. Socrates was born in a village on the side of Mount Lycabettus. His father was a sculptor who was excellent at his job. When he was old enough his father taught him how to be sculptor but his creations always came out less than acceptable in the eyes of the clients. His mother was a mid wife. She helped deliver a lot of the children in Athens. In Athens it was common for young men like Socrates to have an elementary level education. After this education it has been shown that he was the pupil of the philosopher before him Archelaus. Before he became a philosopher he was a scientist. Socrates didn’t find what he was looking for as a scientist so he went on to be a philosopher hoping that he would fulfill the urge to answer mind boggling questions (Carr 1).
Socrates taught the great philosopher Plato (Cavendish 587). When Plato was old enough and had learned all that could be taught at the time he began teaching with Socrates. After teaching with Socrates Plato left and went his own way. When Plato left he began to write about many different subjects and one was Socrates and his adventures through knowledge with the great Socrates began teaching in large classes. Socrates taught like this so that people could talk amongst themselves and disgust the answer or answers to the questions that he asked. Socrates never charged money for his teachings (Carr 1). Around his forties he began to think about the world around hi...
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...let go. That was the end of the great Socrates.
Socrates was the first of the three greatest philosophers in the world. He may be dead but his knowledge will never be forgotten. We use what he learned every day in everything we do especially English. Without Socrates the world may be completely different.
Work Cited
Lim, Jun. Socrates: The Public Conscience of Golden Age Athens. New York: Rosan publishing group inc, 2006
Cavendish, Marshall. The History of the Ancient and Medieval World. Tarrytown, NY Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1996
Beck, Roger b, Linda Black, et.al Ancient World History Patterns of Interaction. New York: McDougal Little.
Dr. Karen Carr, Portland State university, Copy Write !998-2009
Brainy media corporation: 2010
Socrates was wise men, who question everything, he was found to be the wise man in Athens by the oracle. Although he was consider of being the wises man alive in those days, Socrates never consider himself wise, therefore he question everything in order to learned more. Socrates lived a poor life, he used to go to the markets and preach in Athens he never harm anyone, or disobey any of the laws in Athens, yet he was found guilty of all charges and sentence to die.
Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own but rather aimed at bringing out the worst in his interlocutors.
Socrates lived such a private life that it lead to the most important revelation of his entire life. He would go about his life doing nothing but self-examination. In examining his life so strenuously others would come to him to be taught, or to have their children be taught by Socrates. They would offer him money and he would refuse. They would do whatever they could to learn anything Socrates had to teach. What they did not know is that Socrates was not teaching anyone he was simply going about his usual life and people just happened to learn from it. This was also why Socrates was put on trial. He was brought up on two charges, one of impiety and the other of corrupting the youth. These two charges set the course for the last month of his life.
First, Plato shows that the philosophy of Socrates started from an event that seems to have the arrangements of destiny – when he was middle-aged, Socrates’ friend, Chaerephone, strongly went to the temple Delphi at Athens to see if there was anyone wiser than Socrates? Immediately prophetic goddess Phithia replied that no one is wiser than Socrates. When Socrates heard this story and felt confused because he knew that he is not the wisest. Socrates thought and asked question himself, “What can the god mean? And what is the interpretation of his riddle?”, “he is a god, and cannot lie”. After some thought, Socrates found the way to try the questions. He said:” If I could only find a man wiser than myself,
Through time there have been a number of great philosophers, John Locke, Rene Descartes, Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, that positively impacted and changed the world’s way of thinking. Plato lived from about 428 BC until 347 BC in which he wrote over twenty six dialogues, including the Apology, Crito, and Euthyphro (Source 2). Socrates introduced ethics, the study of what people should do, instead of analyzing what people do like the other philosophers of that time period (Source 4). Socrates did not believe he was a teacher to anyone, therefore it is said Plato studied with Socrates for about ten years and was not a student of his (Source 2). Due to the fact there is no written record directly from Socrates, what is known about him comes primarily from Plato’s dialogues (Source 4). The Apology is Plato’s account of the dialect Socrates used to defend himself at his indictment trial and conviction.
Plato started his teachings in remembrance of his good friend, Socrates. After his death he traveled back to Italy and studied under Pythagoras. Some years later he began "The Academy". Much of the curriculum taught was dedicated to the teachings of Socrates. During this time he began to write down his thoughts about politics and development of a regime. Developing different aspects than Socrates'.
Socrates was a Greek philosopher who lived from 469-399 B.C.E. Socrates believed that Philosophy was primarily a social activity, which in fact he made use of quite often. He would find himself roaming the streets of Athens questioning the youth or just anyone who would give him the chance to talk to them. Furthermore, Socrates questions drove people absolutely insane, until the point of absolute consternation if you will. He tried proving a point which is quoted “Look, here we are, two ignorant men, yet two, men who desire to know. I am willing to pursue the question seriously if you are” (Palmer, 31).Ultimately, this meant that the person Socrates was questioning actually didn’t know anything at all, just as well as Socrates himself, so which for the both of them would remain in search of the truth.
About the year of 470 B.C, a man was born in Athens and his name was Socrates. He was a son of a working sculptor and a midwife. Socrates lived in the greatest and most exciting period of his country's history, when Athens developed from a mere city-state to be the head of an empire. He studied problems of Physics, Biology, and other sciences, and learned the art of making the worse argument appear the better. He could easily be involved in public decisions but he did not enjoy politics so he stuck to his interests and life that consisted the qualities of a thinker. He would constantly be thinking about the "ordinary man" and the interests of an "ordinary man". He had many companions, men of all ages and from all parts of the Greek world. This already tells us that he is very pre-occupied with how other people's minds worked and if he could figure out how to teach them rational thinking. Easily most of his ideas would come from talking to other people
He portrays Socrates as an epic hero. We see this most clearly in Plato’s Apology in his intellectual battle with Meletus. It is also transparent throughout the Republic of Plato’s hero status. His students are a significant factor in Socrates’s profile. The way they revere him helps us understand and see who this man was. It is really the only visual we have of Socrates’s teachings and actions. This persona is slated through a weighted perspective, but we have other’s view of Socrates because of the people who went after him. We see two views of Socrates even though; we are swayed by Plato to the positive side. However, we still see the negative through the accusations of Meletus and others in Apology. They accuse him of being an Atheist and corrupting the youth of Athens. You can see where these men get these accusations. Although Socrates attends many religious activities he doesn’t hold any real religious views. Also the young men of Athens cling to his every word. He is highly influential for these young men, so he could be viewed as corrupting them. Gerd Van Riel addresses the inability to capture Socrates’s beliefs in his article, Socrates’ Daemon: Internalization of the Divine and Knowledge of the Self, “Socrates’ religiosity remains very difficult to appreciate. Our knowledge of Socrates’ religious convictions depends entirely on the information provided by Socratic literature.”
Socrates, which is synonymous with wisdom and the philosophical life, was a teacher without a school. His goal was to help others find the truths that lie within their own minds. He helped his students reach deeper, clearer ideas by questioning, disproving, and testing the thoughts of his pupils. His teachings offended many of the powerful people of his time. They believed he was corrupting the youth in Athens. Since he believed and taught in this way, he was executed.
Socrates was born in 469 BCE and died in 399 BCE. In fact, because Socrates kept no writings of his own, his students are the lenses in which we
Socrates was a philosopher who set out to prove, to the gods, that he wasn't the wisest man. Since he could not afford a "good" Sophist teacher, surely a student of one had to be smarter than he. He decides to converse with the youth of Athens, but concludes that he actually is wiser than everyone he speaks with. He then realizes that their lack of intelligence is the fault of their teachers. Socrates understands that the practice of "sophism" leads to a lack of self-knowledge and moral values. Socrates was later accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and put on trial. In The Apology of Socrates he sta...
Socrates was a very important philosopher. He usually questioned a lot about traditions, religion and government. One of his ideas, now used at school, is the Socratic Method. This is that a person asks questions to the pupil, and while the pupil responds, the answer is becoming clearer. Socrates did not like to write any books. He always preferred staying at the market talking and questioning people, than staying at home writing books. He was very controversial, an...
"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing" is a famous quote from Socrates, that describes him very well as the intelligent, humble person that he was. Socrates was born on 469 B.C. in Athens, Greece. He was well known throughout the world for his dialogues and the work of his followers and students such as Xenophon and Plato. He built the foundation for the Socratic Method as well as Socratic Irony. Although everything known about him is second-hand, and we do not have any of his philosophical writings, he is still known as one of the most important philosophers who changed the world. Socrates is often seen as the person who created the foundation for philosophy in the West. The influence of Socrates views can be seen during the time of Renaissance, where his works were often reflected in paintings and other works of art, he is often represented as a great Saint, because of all of his exemplary accomplishments.
wise for he was always in the pursuit of knowledge. Unfortunately, Socrates was put to death late in his