The Socratic Movement

In this essay, I will discuss one of the four major philosophical movements in Ancient Greek Philosophy; namely the Socratic movement. The Socratic turn was a philosophical shift from a natural to a social philosophy. It was a part of Ancient Greek philosophy which set in motion a huge movement of thought that influenced the course of mankind for many centuries. I will attempt to express my observations of this movement as clear and specific as possible.

Social philosophy, also described as the philosophical study of social behavior (particularly in humans) was one of the key aspects of Plato’s philosophy. However, we must acknowledge that this was not exclusive to the Socratic turn, for many other philosophers have incorporated social philosophy after Plato. Nevertheless, our chief concern will be the philosophy of Plato, for he was responsible for the beginning of the philosophical social movement. Plato incorporated his philosophy mainly through his own writings, as well as dialogues that he recorded of his mentor Socrates.

The main character in Plato’s works was Socrates. Socrates was a philosopher whose life mission was his concern with virtue and excellence of the mind, or arête in Greek terms. In Plato’s Apology, which means explanation in Greek, you can see Socrates’ purpose and determination. One of Socrates’ most famous lines is the following: “are you not shamed that you care for having as much money as possible, and reputation, and honor, but that you neither

Mendia, Page. 2 care for nor give thought to prudence, and truth, and how your soul will be the best possible?” (Kolak and Thomson, 95). Plato’s Socrates was very concerned with the soul, which will be the next topic of our discussion.

The soul,...

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...wledged Aristotle’s admiration to him. Clearly a refutation is a sign of a heavy influence from Parmenides to Aristotle.

In this essay I discussed the influence that Pre-Socratics had on both Platonic and Aristotelian movements of thought. Although I analyzed the former more than the latter, I did elaborate sufficiently to show that the Pre-Socratics were of great importance to both Plato and Socrates. Pre-Socratic thinking was very important in Ancient Greek Philosophy, as well to us philosophy students who are trying to learn the roots of great philosophical thinking. Pre-Socratic thinking was the beginning of philosophy, and philosophers ought to search the roots of it to have a solid foundation of philosophy.

Works Cited

Kolak, Daniel, and Garrett Thomson. The Longman Standard History of Ancient Philosophy. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2006. Print.