Socrates

Kai Bonis-Ericksen

Mrs. Trout

December 7, 2011

Socrates

What is Wisdom? This is one of the many practical questions Socrates thought of by means of how we ought to live. Socrates was a famous philosopher and well known for being sentenced to death for his beliefs and ideas, his philosophy, and his teaching.

Who was Socrates? //Socrates// was a classical Greek philosopher. Socrates was one of the three amazing Athenian philosophers along with the two others who are Plato and Aristotle. A philosopher is someone who thinks about the world in their own way using their own thoughts and sometimes other peoples thoughts, that’s what Socrates did .  He was named one of the main philosophers of Western philosophy. He is primarily known through the accounts of his students Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes. Plato’s accounts and dialogs are said to be the the ones that cover the majority of Socrates’. He is often named as the inventor of the philosophy known as ethics which is a system of moral principles. Socrates Fought bravely for in the Peloponnesian War when it began. He was born in 469 B.C. And during that time, he lived through times of political change in Athens, a city that would force him to take all the blame for its troubles and basically demanded his life. Around the age of 40 he began to become a real philosopher and think of some really difficult questions such as “what is wisdom?”, and “what is beauty?” and “what is the right thing to do?” These were very hard questions, therefore he decided that it would be better off if a lot of other people answered this question so he could come up with more of a variety of good ideas. This is the way he worked ; he liked to call it public discussion. Socrates was a great public speaker, therefore he always was traveling getting answers through public disscusion. He never wrote any philosophical works of his own. “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.” This is a famous quote by Socrates showing how much public discussion means to him and in other words that he does not believe anything until he can prove it first.

What was Socrates’ life like? According to Plato, his fellow student, Socrates had a father named Sophroniscus  and a mother named Phaenarete  . Socrates also had a wife named Xanshippe  a woman alot younger than him and had 3 kids with her named Lamprocles, <span class="wiki_link_ext">Sophroniscus  , and <span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">Menexenus. A friend of Socrates named Crito, criticized Socrates for ditching or abandoning his children when he declined to try to escape Athens before his execution. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> He is described by Plato as unattractive in appearance and short in height. It is very unclear what Socrates did for a living. He thinks that it is essential to focus and dedicate your life to what you think is most important: public discussion. Socrates accepted payment for educating and organizing a school of philosophy but he never but never for his own accounts. Confused on what an account is? An account is a general summarization of a happening or occurrence. Details from Socrates are mainly being received from 3 different sources: <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon and the plays of Aristophanes.

<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">How did Socrates die? Well in 399 B.C. on a very special day, Socrates was placed in front of a jury of 450 of Athenians. He was being accused of “Refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state” and for “corrupting the youth.” What they mean by corrupting the youth is teaching infantile men the wrong things. If he was found guilty he would be sentenced to death. Eventually Socrates was voted guilty 279 votes to 221. The jurors next asked for his punishment and his blamers of course asked for the death sentence but Socrates was set a chance to suggest his own penalty and possibly avoid a fatal punishment. Socrates came up with the idea of being charged with a fair amount of money. Given the two choices, the jury decided to give him the death penalty of course. Athenian law thought his death should be carried out by drinking a cup of poison hemlock. Socrates would be his own executioner and in other words be committing suicide, that’s why they call his death “the suicide of Socrates”. A slave came to Socrates who was near his death bed and gave him the cup of poison. All his close friends were around him crying and sobbing but he demanded quietness and said “one should die in silence.” With that he drank the potion. He walked until he felt his legs get very heavy and when it did he gently laid on the bed. Than a man came to him and asked him if he could feel his legs as he put pressure on it, Socrates said no. the man continued moving up his body doing the same thing until it got to his heart. Then it was over.

Socrates supposed the most excellent method for citizens to exist was to focus on self-development instead of quest of prosperity. He forever tried to encourage others to focus on friendship and a proper society. Socrates sensed that this way was the greatest system for people to develop as a society. Socrates carried out his death by drinking the hemlock potion when most people thought he would just escape Athens. He decided not to since he felt that running or escaping from his community would be pure betrayal.

Socrates was a very famous philosopher and well known for being sentenced to death for his beliefs and ideas, his philosophy, and his teaching. After reading this whole research paper it should all add up to the fact that no matter how important the event was, Socrates always kept himself from doing the wrong thing. A great example of that is, as stated above, he was criticized of abandoning his kids because he could have escaped from Athens and stayed with his family but he knew that was the wrong thing to do therefore he stayed and carried out the death penalty so he wouldn’t have any flaw in his philosophy or life. To this day he has greatly influenced our philosophy. If anything in general can be said about Socrates it would be that he was a great, unselfish, modest man and was one of the greatest thinkers or philosophers in the world.

<span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> Kai Bonis-Ericksen <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> English 9 <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> Mrs. Trout <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> December 7, 2011 <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> Socrates <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> What is Wisdom? This is one of the many practical questions Socrates thought of by means of how we ought to live. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Socrates was a famous philosopher and well known for being sentenced to death for his beliefs and ideas, his philosophy, and his teaching. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Who was Socrates? //Socrates// was a classical Greek philosopher. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Socrates was one of the three amazing Athenian philosophers along with the two others who are Plato and Aristotle. A philosopher is someone who thinks about the world in their own way using their own thoughts and sometimes other peoples thoughts, that’s what Socrates did <span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> He was named one of the main philosophers of Western philosophy. He is primarily known through the accounts of his students Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes. Plato’s accounts and dialogs are said to be the the ones that cover the majority of Socrates’. He is often named as the inventor of the philosophy known as ethics which is a system of moral principles. Socrates Fought bravely for in the Peloponnesian War when it began. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> He was born in 469 B.C. And during that time, he lived through times of political change in Athens, a city that would force him to take all the blame for its troubles and basically demanded his life. Around the age of 40 he began to become a real philosopher and think of some really difficult questions such as “what is wisdom?”, and “what is beauty?” and “what is the right thing to do?” These were very hard questions, therefore he decided that it would be better off if a lot of other people answered this question so he could come up with more of a variety of good ideas. This is the way he worked ; he liked to call it public discussion. Socrates was a great public speaker, therefore he always was traveling getting answers through public disscusion. He never wrote any philosophical works of his own. “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.” This is a famous quote by Socrates showing how much public discussion means to him and in other words that he does not believe anything until he can prove it first. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> What was Socrates’ life like? <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">According to Plato, his fellow student, Socrates had a father named <span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Sophroniscus] <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> and a mother named <span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Phaenarete] <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. Socrates also had a wife named Xanshippe <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> a woman alot younger than him and had 3 kids with her named <span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Lamprocles], <span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Sophroniscus] , and <span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Menexenus]. A friend of Socrates named Crito, criticized Socrates for ditching or abandoning his children when he declined to try to escape Athens before his execution. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> He is described by Plato as unattractive in appearance and short in height. It is very unclear what Socrates did for a living. He thinks that it is essential to focus and dedicate your life to what you think is most important: public discussion. Socrates accepted payment for educating and organizing a school of philosophy but he never but never for his own accounts. Confused on what an account is? An account is a general summarization of a happening or occurrence. Details from Socrates are mainly being received from 3 different sources: <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon and the plays of Aristophanes. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">How did Socrates die? Well in 399 B.C. on a very special day, Socrates was placed in front of a jury of 450 of Athenians. He was being accused of “Refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state” and for “corrupting the youth.” What they mean by corrupting the youth is teaching infantile men the wrong things. If he was found guilty he would be sentenced to death. Eventually Socrates was voted guilty 279 votes to 221. The jurors next asked for his punishment and his blamers of course asked for the death sentence but Socrates was set a chance to suggest his own penalty and possibly avoid a fatal punishment. Socrates came up with the idea of being charged with a fair amount of money. Given the two choices, the jury decided to give him the death penalty of course. Athenian law thought his death should be carried out by drinking a cup of poison hemlock. Socrates would be his own executioner and in other words be committing suicide, that’s why they call his death “the suicide of Socrates”. A slave came to Socrates who was near his death bed and gave him the cup of poison. All his close friends were around him crying and sobbing but he demanded quietness and said “one should die in silence.” With that he drank the potion. He walked until he felt his legs get very heavy and when it did he gently laid on the bed. Than a man came to him and asked him if he could feel his legs as he put pressure on it, Socrates said no. the man continued moving up his body doing the same thing until it got to his heart. Then it was over. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> Socrates supposed the most excellent method for citizens to exist was to focus on self-development instead of quest of prosperity. He forever tried to encourage others to focus on friendship and a proper society. Socrates sensed that this way was the greatest system for people to develop as a society. Socrates carried out his death by drinking the hemlock potion when most people thought he would just escape Athens. He decided not to since he felt that running or escaping from his community would be pure betrayal. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 200%; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> Socrates was a very famous philosopher and well known for being sentenced to death for his beliefs and ideas, his philosophy, and his teaching. After reading this whole research paper it should all add up to the fact that no matter how important the event was, Socrates always kept himself from doing the wrong thing. A great example of that is, as stated above, he was criticized of abandoning his kids because he could have escaped from Athens and stayed with his family but he knew that was the wrong thing to do therefore he stayed and carried out the death penalty so he wouldn’t have any flaw in his philosophy or life. To this day he has greatly influenced our philosophy. If anything in general can be said about Socrates it would be that he was a great, unselfish, modest man and was one of the greatest thinkers or philosophers in the world.