Colby Behrends

PHILOSOPHY
SLCC-REDWOOD

Question 1
All my life Ive heard the name Socrates. In fact, a special character in one of my
favorite movies The Peaceful Warrior, is nicknamed Socrates! It was not until taking a
philosophy class that I truly started to understand who Socrates was and why people
considered him so wise. In this paper, I will address Socrates philosophies on psyche,
techne, virtue, and Intellectualism and compare them to his ultimate beliefs 1) that The
unexamined life is not worth living and 2) Know thyself. Perhaps after some thought
on these matters, we too can consider ourselves a little wiser!
From what was described in the text, Socrates was a strange man, certainly not of
the stature or looks that Id imagined. He was perceived as universally ugly and
apparently did not bathe very often.1 This is the great man that Ive heard so much about?
Since nothing personally written by Socrates has survived time, it led me to wonder if he
was just a myth! Surely a man that was perceived as Socrates was could not gain the
respect and knowledge that had been claimed for him! That is, until you consider his
thoughts on psyche.
Now the definition of psyche is the soul, mind or personality of a person or
group. The term is coined from the Greek Language as soul.3 Socrates believed that
your psyche is the essence of humanness1. As we discussed in class, psyche is who you
REALLY are2. I suppose the way that this all connects together is that Socrates used irony
to communicate; and the irony of his appearance was that he was a respected and
intelligent man! How would it feel to see a man, judge him as you perceive him based off
of his looks and hygiene, and then proceed to have that man teach you a thing or two
about yourself?

Colby Behrends
PHILOSOPHY
SLCC-REDWOOD

Socrates next point is techne. A persons techne could be described as their best
practical knowledge2. Knowledge, or true belief, is no good if you cannot apply it. While
you may know a great many things that knowledge is not very valuable if you cannot use
it to better yourself. I would say that one of my technes is communication. I have learned
how to communicate with different people, what words to use, what tones to use, when to
say certain things or apply flattery, what things upset people, etc. What is the point of
knowing and mastering all of those things if I dont use that knowledge well to do what is
good? Some would call this manipulating, I call it my techne.
Socrates also had a techne. He was a master of what was known as the Socratic
Dialectic. The Dialectic was designed to catch people in their own tongue and force them
to understand that their view was contradictory (to Socrates). Socrates practiced his
techne often with Sophists, which I think is what made him so famous. In one reading,
Socrates argues about what justice is. Thrasymachus ended up eating his words as
Socrates caught him saying something contradictory1,2.
Virtue is excellence in function2. Socrates and the students that came after him
believed strongly that something virtuous was something that functioned very well in its
current state. We can say that a mirror is virtuous in producing a reflection or that a car is
virtuous at transporting people. Something that would not be considered virtuous is using
a crayon as a doorstop, or a table as a bed. Crayons arent created to be doorstops, and
they arent very good at stopping doors either!
Intellectualism is a term used to refer to the claim that behavior is always
controlled by beliefs about what is good and the means to that good.1 Socrates believed
that no one knowingly does wrong. I find this statement quite interesting! In thinking of

Colby Behrends
PHILOSOPHY
SLCC-REDWOOD

some of the least respected people in the world, such as Hitler, its hard to think that they
didnt believe what they were doing was wrong. Socrates claims that even if they did
believe that, it would just be them playing word games.1 Lets take Hitler for example:
A man who is responsible for millions of deaths, a world war, andleading his country
to greatness? He took a broken, desolate government and economy and made it one of the
most powerful forces in the world! Is there a person that wouldnt do that for their
country? Was that wrong?
So how does all of this tie into Socrates philosophy? What is his philosophy? I
think that Socrates wanted people to grow. He didnt respect people who accepted the
status quo and did not challenge themselves or others. That is why his ever popular
statement the unexamined life is not worth living is so profound! You must examine
yourself, constantly, and change behaviors to better yourself and the world. You must
strive for truth, for virtue.
Psyche is the way that you do this. As you commit actions, your soul is what
looks upon those actions and says Why did I do that? Was that the right thing to do?
Should I do it again? Your psyche is the First step to solving a problem. When I was
20 I came upon a good sum of money. To be honest, I turned into quite the jerk! Friends
started to keep their distance and my psyche was what alerted me to my behavior.
At that point it was time for my techne to come in. I had examined my life and
seen that it was not good for me or for the people around me. My techne of
communication helped me win my friends back. I think that techne and virtue go hand in
hand. When something is virtuous, it is because there is theoretical and practical
knowledge present. Thus, examining life allows us to achieve and perfect a techne.

Colby Behrends
PHILOSOPHY
SLCC-REDWOOD

As I said, virtue and techne go hand in hand. Excellence in function is the

ultimate product of the examined life. Although, it would seem from Socrates that true
excellence in function could never be attained. Just as you think that you reached virtue,
Socrates examined life would beg you to realize something else that could be more
virtuous.
Perhaps at the end of Hitlers life he realized exactly what had happened. Perhaps
all he wanted to do was unite his people, make his country great again and help out a few
of his friends and himself along the way. Perhaps before he committed suicide, he
understood all of the treachery that he committed. It is those who examine their lives that
have the ability to recognize that something has gotten out of hand and cannot be
considered good anymore. Thus, as intellectualism goes, perhaps Hitler recognized what
his attempt had become, and took his own life. This is intellectualism.
So what about Socrates other main philosophy: The short and mysterious
statement Know thyself. When I hear this statement, I imagine that it means understand
who you are, just pronounced in a more biblical way. Why would Socrates want us to
understand who we are? As I understand, Socrates hated the Sophists because of their
relativistic views2. If the sophists truly understood who they were and what their purpose
was, perhaps they too would yearn for greater truth and knowledge.
When it comes to psyche, Know thyself could almost be a direct connection! If
psyche is who you really are, then knowing yourself is just understanding who you are.
Socrates was perceived as a poor, ugly, dirty man. However, he knew who he was, he
knew what he was capable of; and tattered clothes and no time for a shower didnt stop
him from chasing virtue or attaining his techne.

Colby Behrends
PHILOSOPHY
SLCC-REDWOOD

A baseball player who knows that hes good at baseball is going to have the
passion and confidence to be successful at his dream, whilst the server at a restaurant who
thinks that theyd be better at typing on a computer all day is not going to be a very
virtuous server. In order for us to practice our knowledge or participate in techne, we
have to know ourselves well enough to know that it is something that we will be
passionate enough to do well. Again, this is tied closely with virtue.
If my behavior is controlled by what I believe to be good, then knowing what I
believe to be good is pretty important! Maybe not everyone thought the greatest things of
Socrates and his filth, but Socrates obviously believed that he was contributing to good.
The irony in his appearance taught people to examine things further than what they see
and had he spent a little more time in the bathroom, he might not have given us so much
wisdom! Socrates, like most of us, was doing what he did because he believed it to be
good.
So we can see from this that the tattered, ugly Socrates had some good things to
leave behind. By examining our lives and knowing ourselves we can use our psyche to
develop techne and strive towards becoming virtuous human beings. In our virtue, we
will continually strive for what is good. I think one of the most influential practices that I
have taken part in this year is examining my behavior. It is only through knowing myself
and what I really want, and examining if Im on the path to get to that virtue that I can
hope to find true happiness.
1

Soccio, Douglas J. Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy. Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
2
Atkinson, Shannon. "Chapter 4." Lecture.
3
"Psyche." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
4
"Virtue." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.