Socrates

Braylin Kinzie

November 4, 2019
 Imagine questioning everything and everyone around you to no end. Imagine never

getting an answer, but gaining a better knowledge of yourself and also how others think. Imagine

that the one most important question that you pursued was the true meaning of happiness. One

would think that it would automatically be wealth or popularity. Now imagine one day becoming

famous for such work, but the only documentation was written by someone else. That author was

Plato and that person known for such famous thinking was Socrates.

Socrates was a Greek philosopher well known for setting the foundation of Western

Philosophy and Epistemology; however, was viewed at the time as an object of ridicule for his

“abnormal” thinking.

Socrates was born in 470 BCE in Athens, Greece to Sophrinicus who was a stone maker

and Phaenartet who was a midwife (Kraut, Robert) and did not come from a wealthy family. In

his youth, he studied music, gymnastics, and English (Mark, Joshua). (Biography.com Editors).

Around 450 BCE Socrates joined the army, which was a requirement in those time. He also got a

chance to fight in the Peloponnesian war (Biography.com Editors, History.com Editors). Which

is when he met at married his wife Xanthippe (Kraut, Robert). During the marriage they had

three children named Lamprocles, Sophrinsicus, and Menexenus (Kraut, Biography.com

Editors). However, his wife did not support his profession, because she felt that he paid more

attention to the children of Athens than his own. (Biography.com Editors).

As a philosopher, Socrates was constantly ridiculed for his thinking (Kraut, Robert).

People would disguise their ridicule in the form of play, but they felt that Socrates could not be
taken serious (Kraut, Robert). He was not the best looking either, but he thought he was beautiful

not for his looks but for his knowledge. (Nails, Biography.com Editors). He believed that

philosophy should better the world and that you could not obtain one virtue without having them

all. (Biography.com Editors, Kraut). His primary subjects of the study were the universe, the

soul, idea, definition, and induction. His most notable students were Plato and Xenophon and

even though Plato may have been taught by Socrates their views still clashed (Kraut, Robert).

One of his philosophical discoveries he made was that human choice was driven by happiness

(Biography.com Editors). Though Socrates was not wealthy some of his readers and followers

were (Kraut, Robert). He thought the more a person knew the better they would be able to make

better choices and he also believed whoever was the smartest should be the ruler of the people.

He also believed that wisdom came from knowing oneself (Biography.com Editors). He

endorsed love and affection and that everyone lives in peace and harmony (Mark, Joshua). He

emphasized that the mind is more important than the body (Biography.com Editors). The issue

with his thought process was its complexities with more people trying to decipher it the more

complex it got and with Socrates writing nothing we don’t know the real Socrates (Nails, Debra).

One of his greatest questions was doing wrong for what was right.

In 399 B.C. a little after the Peloponnesian war, Socrates was charged for the corruption

of the youth of Athens which is known as impiety. (Kraut, History.com Editors). His accusers

were Meletus, Anytus, Lycon, and Thrasymachus. (Mark, Joshua). He was not the only one

accused in fact, he was one of several. (Kraut, Robert). He chose to be his own defense in court

(Mark, Joshua). He believed that he should have been compensated for his charges

(Biography.com Editors). Though he could have he did not try to evade his trial (Kraut, Robert).

He was convicted and was given the death sentence by drinking hemlock (Mark, Joshua). Before
his death, his companions tried to bribe the guards, but Socrates refused (Biography.com

Editors). He spent his last moment in the presence of his closest companions (History.com

Editors).

In conclusion, Socrates laid the foundation of western philosophy. And while we may not

know much about him, we do have an idea of who he was. Though Socrates lived long ago, he

still has an effect on modern philosophy.

Works Cited

History.com Editors. “Socrates.” History.com 23, Aug 2019,

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/socrates. Accessed 10 Oct 2019.

Kraut, Robert. “Socrates.” Britanica.com, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Socrates.

Accessed 10 Oct 2019.

Mark, Joshua. “Socrates.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2, Sep 2009,

https://www.ancient.eu/socrates/. Accessed 15 Oct 2019.

Nails, Debra. “Socrates.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 6 Feb 2018,

https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entrysocrates Accessed 10

Oct 2019.

Biography.com Editors. “Socrates.” Biography.com, 9, Sep 2019,

https://www.biography.com/scholar/socrates Accessed 15 Oct 2019.