Sócrates de Atenas

He was born at the end of the 5th century in

470 B.C. in Alopece Athens. His father was a
sculptor named Sofronisco whom he followed in
his youth, his mother was Fenáreta who worked
as a midwife. Socrates received the traditional
education of the time given by his teacher
Archelo, it is believed that he could also have
been a disciple of Anaxagoras and have known the
doctrines of the Eleatic philosophers, Socrates married Xantipa, a young woman 30 years
younger than him and who, due to her bad character and her contemptuous treatment of
Socrates, went down in history as an insolent and cruel woman, it is believed that she had
a second woman named Myrtle. He was the father of three children, they were called
Menexeno, Lamprocles and Sofronisco.
In the Peloponnesian War he took part as an infantryman against Sparta, in the battles of Potidea in
432-430 B.C. he saved the statesman and orator Alcibiades who was wounded as a general, he also
took part in the battles of Delion in 424 B.C.., and Amphipolis in 422 B.C. His resistance and skill in
military campaigns are attested by Alcibiades who highlighted the value of Socrates in battle. With
great keenness of reason and facility with words, he spent most of his life in the markets and public
squares of Athens holding discussions and answering questions, a method called maieutics, or
knowledge through questioning. Socrates' maieutics is a method of induction used to lead the
interlocutor to recognize his own knowledge. He didn’t wrote any books and didn’t founded a
regular school of philosophy. All that is known for certain about him is due to two of his most notable
disciples: Platón and the historian Jenofonte.

Socrates' main contributions to philosophy were the method of dialogue and ethics. The basis of his
teachings and what he instilled was the belief in an objective understanding of the concepts of
justice, love and virtue and self-knowledge. I teach that it is better to accept ignorance of what is
unknown than to falsely affirm what is known. He argued that the truth had to be sought through
reason and critical analysis. He believed that all vice is the result of ignorance and that no person
wishes evil; in turn, virtue is knowledge and those who know what is good will act justly. He was
accused of despising the gods and introducing new deities. He was also accused of corrupting the
morality of the youth, distancing it from the principles of democracy and for this reason he was
sentenced to death by drinking a glass of hemlock, Socrates didn’t oppose it because as a citizen he
felt obliged to comply with the law, died in 399 B.C. at 70 years old. We chose him because he is one
of the most important and influential philosophers in history.

Bibliographic references:

https://www.todamateria.com/socrates/

https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/s/socrates.htm