Overview
Socrates (c. 470/469–399 BCE) was an Athenian citizen who wrote nothing and yet redirected Greek philosophy from cosmology toward ethics and the care of the soul. Our portraits come mainly from Plato, Xenophon, and the comic poet Aristophanes, and they diverge in emphasis and tone. He questioned fellow citizens in the agora about courage, justice, and piety, professing ignorance while exposing hollow claims to wisdom. In 399 BCE democratic Athens tried him for impiety and corrupting the young; he was condemned and died by hemlock. Stanford Encyclopedia and Britannica place his life roughly 470 or 469 to 399 BCE. His trial and composure under sentence became founding images of philosophical integrity for later antiquity. Later schools—Cynic, Stoic, Skeptic, and Academic—claimed him as ancestor, making “Socratic” a permanent style of critical life.
Main ideas
Socratic method is elenchus: cooperative yet relentless cross-examination that tests definitions and reveals contradiction in moral claims. He links virtue with a kind of knowledge and suggests that wrongdoing stems from ignorance rather than clear-eyed choice. Care of the soul outranks wealth, reputation, and even continued life itself when integrity is at stake. The Delphic injunction to know oneself frames a mission of self-scrutiny and civic gadfly service to Athens. He obeys lawful verdicts while refusing to abandon philosophy, dramatizing tension between conscience and the city. Because he left no texts, reconstruction is contested among Plato’s early dialogues, Xenophon’s memorabilia, and Aristophanes’ satire. Still, the examined life, intellectual humility, and ethical questioning of power remain the durable Socratic inheritance. Philosophy becomes a way of living and dying, not a technical specialty alone.
Major works
- No surviving writings
- Plato's Apology
- Xenophon's Memorabilia
Legacy
Socrates made philosophy synonymous with ethical self-examination and civic questioning under public scrutiny. His death scene inspired martyr ideals from antiquity through the Enlightenment and modern human-rights rhetoric. Educators, therapists, and political dissidents still invoke Socratic dialogue as a model of integrity under democratic majorities and authoritarian pressure alike. The Socratic problem—the gap among ancient sources—itself remains a lasting methodological lesson.
Themes in this archive
Justice (2) · Socrates on justice · Self-examination (1) · Knowledge (1) · Morality (1) · Virtue (1)